Another Loop hardware store bites the dust...

The Ace Hardware at 310 W. Adams is closing (or moving to 2 already existing locations, depending on how you look at it) . The upshot is that one of the few remaining true hardware stores in the Loop will be gone at the end of the month. Curious at a time when the Loop is moving away from commercial and toward residential development that it cannot support basic everyday retail businesses that are essential to neighborhoods, like hardware and grocery stores.

The building in which the hardware store is located, the 300 West Adams building is a lovely mid-twenties terra cotta Gothic revival skyscraper. It has recently been sold and its new owners are applying for landmark status, apparently in order to benefit from property tax incentives. It is currently being restored and other storefront businesses of the building are also moving out implying that the management has not renewed any of the leases.

Directly across Adams Street from Sears Tower, the building is a welcome break from the steel and glass canyon of Franklin Street. It was designed by Jens J. Jensen, not to be confused with the great landscape architect Jens Jensen.

I'm not sure if the building meets the criteria for landmark designation but if were up to me, I'd probably landmark every building in the Loop built before 1960!