Craig Golden and Marc Realty’s hotel-to-gym pivot approved

A joint venture of Craig Golden’s Blue Star Properties and Marc Realty is getting a stretch of Logan Square into shape.

The developers won Chicago Permit Review Committee approval for a revised redevelopment plan for the vintage Grace Furniture building in Logan Square to turn the 108-year-old building at 2618 North Milwaukee Avenue into a gym in a shift from previous plans for the site, Urbanize Chicago reported.

Developers Blue Star and Marc Realty previously secured approval for a boutique hotel. Now, the development team has changed course and plans to open a gym on the site instead.

Built in 1914, the building originally served as a storage warehouse. In 2017, the property’s side elevation was demolished, leaving the steel frame and plywood infill exposed.

Now, the developers plan to reoccupy the building with the Logan Square Athletic Club, which will operate under the Chicago Athletic Club brand.

Without a hotel, the external design of the building won’t change as much as the previously planned project. The terracotta surrounding the base of the building and running up the facade will also be restored as part of the redevelopment.

Blue Star is also part of a joint venture with John O’Donnell’s Riverside Investment and Development firm that’s pursuing a 198-unit apartment project in the West Loop.

For Marc Realty, led by Jerry Nudo, and Larry and Elliott Weiner, the proposal marks a move back into the lodging market after it dropped its participation in a project initially announced more than two years ago to bring a 250-room hotel to Chicago’s Fulton Market at 1234 West Randolph Street. Efforts to develop that property in September were pivoted toward an apartment tower instead, without Marc’s involvement.

Marc owns, manages and leases a portfolio of dozens of buildings, mostly offices, in downtown Chicago and the suburbs.

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