Four arts and design-focused businesses in East Garfield Park celebrated their official opening Thursday, in a newly renovated building they hope will provide a stable place to grow and help boost the West Side neighborhood.
The 5,700-square-foot property, located at 2811 W. Fulton St., houses Chicago Printworks, a print shop serving the arts community; Direction Tour Marketing, an arts marketing agency; Studio inHaus, an architectural design company and FlightFX, an aircraft simulator design company.
The $2 million project was developed by owners Micah Taylor, president of Chicago Printworks and Direction Tour Marketing, and Thomas and Laarne Levings, husband and wife founders of Studio inHaus. Thomas Levings is a Partner at FlightFX.
From left: Studio inHaus co-founder Laarni Livings, Chicago Printworks and Direction Tour Marketing Owner Micah Taylor, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Studio inHaus co-founder Thomas Levings, and Garfield Park Community Council Executive Director Mike Thomas cut the ribbon to mark the opening of the company's shared office in East Garfield Park.
“We are committed to serving as adult mentors to youth in the area, creating sustainable employment opportunities for our neighbors, improving resident safety and transforming the vacant warehouse into a meaningful community business anchor,” Taylor said.
Taylor and the Livings were friends and business owners who previously shared office space in the West Loop but were priced out of the neighborhood. The business owners live in the South Loop and were not familiar with East Garfield Park when they began looking for space in 2021.
Taylor never imagined becoming a real estate developer until they heard about the city's transit-oriented development grant, which focuses on projects on the South and West Sides. The program awards grants to projects near train stations and bus lines to give residents better access to housing, jobs, services and commerce through public transportation.
In 2023, they received a $250,000 grant from ETOD to help fund the renovation of the building. The project was also financed through bank loans, which were used to purchase the property from gearbox manufacturer Overton Chicago Gear.
Most ETOD projects are larger and a few are owner-occupied projects like theirs, Taylor said. The three business partners estimated the cost would be $1.5 million but expenses had ballooned to $2 million by the time the renovations finished in September.
The recently rehabilitated building in East Garfield Park, 2811 W. Fulton St.
“We were surprised by the increase in construction costs,” Taylor said.
The major overhaul of the building, built in 1924, included replacing the electrical and plumbing systems and installing an HVAC system and bay windows.
“We couldn't be prouder of the restorations done to the building. No corners were cut to bring the 100-year-old building back to its former glory,” Taylor said.
“It is important to bring economic development to neighborhoods, bring residents out and bring more activity and vitality to our commercial corridor,” said Mike Thomas, executive director of the Garfield Park Community Council.
“I hope this will promote further development,” said Thomas, who lives near the property. “Micah and his team did a great job designing the building. They are not hiding behind a fence or barricading themselves in.”
The Garfield Park Community Council has also become a client of Chicago Printworks, ordering posters and other marketing materials. The new businesses “really help our area and provide amenities and job opportunities,” Thomas said.
The new space gives the four companies more room to expand and hire more workers.
“Chicago Printworks and FlightFX are going through a period of rapid growth,” Taylor said. “We will both be actively seeking to hire now that we have the space to accommodate new employees. We were significantly limited by space at our previous West Loop location.
Taylor founded Direction Tour Marketing in 1999. The company provides marketing and advertising services to arts groups such as dance companies, theatres, museums and festival producers. He launched Chicago Printworks in 2009 to provide affordable printing to the city's arts community because he was not satisfied with the services available to small institutions. Taylor currently has 12 employees.
Studio inHaus, established in 2011, creates visual and interactive images for architectural design development and real estate marketing. It has seven employees.
“We are thrilled to finally have a permanent home at 2811 W. Fulton,” Thomas Levings said. The company has moved to nine different locations over the past 15 years.
“Our investment here was to enable us to find a place to put down roots, provide stability for business planning and become part of an ecosystem bigger than ourselves,” Thomas Levings said. “We hope this project inspires other small business owners that it is worthwhile to find a space to establish themselves as owners and not worry about being priced out and forced to relocate.”
