Renovation update: Q2 2025

Well, we knew this renovation project would take a long time, but we didn't know how long! The process of renovating a 1908 firehouse turns out to be a big challenge for a renovation project. After more than 9 months of back-and-forth revisions, we have a permit!

Permitting process

We actually started the permitting process near the end of 2023 by drawing up designs and going through a "pre-review" process with the City of Chicago Department of Buildings. Ironically, one of our first hurdles in that process was ensuring that The Firehouse met the fire code. Who would have thought? Based on feedback from the pre-review, we revised and completed our ambitious renovation plans with what we thought were "permit-ready" drawings. We used these to select a contractor, price the overall project, and finally submit a permit application thinking that we'd have a permit in a couple of months...

Unfortunately, the pre-review process didn't identify all of the hurdles that a full permit review revealed. We had to make adjustments to the design at virtually every stage and trade. The age of our building, combined with the rather unique combination of proposed uses, didn't make things easier. Our building was designed at a time when horse-drawn carts were the norm; when concepts like energy efficiency or accessibility weren't even considered, and ventilation meant leaving the front door open. Burning fossil fuels like oil for heat was moving from a luxury to household standards; global climate change was unthinkable. Our design plan makes the entire first floor ADA-accessible, improves energy efficiency, and will reduce carbon emissions by at least 24%.

Preparing for renovations: deconstruction and moving stuff around!

Growing racks from the IVG have been moved upstairs in preparation for renovations

Even though we were in a holding pattern with our construction, we've been preparing for it all winter! Our Indoor Victory Garden (IVG) is almost empty, The upstairs classroom is now filled with racks from growers, which makes for a cozier (but greener) space for meetings and workshops. We've also decommissioned our outdoor shed to make space for tuck pointing. That shed was built back in 2020, entirely from repurposed wood from our old aquaponics farm at our former home.

Lighting ballast packed up and ready for recycling

We decommissioned all of our fluorescent lighting in preparation for much more energy-efficient LED lighting; the ballasts, bulbs, and fixtures from all of the fluorescent lights totaled over 600 pounds! We recycled all of it through EverLights.

All said, given the delays in the permitting, we have to get the project re-priced. We were prepared for increases in labor costs, but we were not prepared for the scale and speed of tariffs. We are keeping our fingers crossed that cost escalations will be minimal.