The long shuttered Stony Island Trust & Savings Bank building in the South Shore neighborhood is receiving new life and will finally operate once again—this time as an arts center. The 17,000-square-foot neoclassical building had spent several decades vacant and deteriorating until artist and University of Chicago faculty member Theaster Gates expressed interest in restoring the building back in 2012. After purchasing the building for $1, Gates announced plans to transform the former bank building into a community asset.
Filed under: