Construction is underway for City Winery Chicago, a fully operational urban winery and tasting room, restaurant with outdoor wine garden, concert hall and private event space at 1200 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop.
City Winery Chicago is the first offshoot of music and wine impresario Michael Dorf’s award-winning City Winery located in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The Chicago venue plans to hire approximately 90 new employees for the facility, which will serve dinner and weekend brunch, offer more than 200 concerts a year, and host hundreds of private events and parties.
The 1200 W. Randolph building, a former refrigerated food distribution warehouse built in the early part of the 20th century, is being renovated into a contemporary winery and hospitality facility. The project team is respecting the old brick and timber construction, while adding 5,000 square feet of new construction in the form of a two-story addition within the site’s existing courtyard. The new addition will keep with the feel of the existing building while incorporating a 30-foot high modern glass curtain wall that will showcase views of the building from both inside and out. Upon completion, the new 33,000-square-foot facility will feature high exposed ceilings, reclaimed wood beams, masonry, arched brick openings and interior glass partitions so patrons can view the daily winemaking operation.
Summit Design + Build’s David Brown, project manager, and Chuck Schmidt, superintendent, will be responsible for the onsite construction of City Winery Chicago. New York based Christopher Warnick Architecture is the project architect and Phillip Katz of Wisconsin based Phillip Katz Project Development is the designer of the project. Opening is schedule for August 2012.
