Oak Leaves Building up for Auction

One of Oak Park's showcase commercial properties has hit the auction block.

Bidding begins Sept. 10 on the five-story space at 1140 Lake St., commonly known as the Oak Leaves building. Opening bid for the 1929 building? $800,000.

Here's what you get, according to the listing provided by Foresite Realty to Auction.com:

Commercial presents an excellent opportunity for qualified parties to acquire an Office-Retail property totaling 64,590 SF of NRA located on a 0.44-acre site at 1140 Lake Street in Oak Park, Illinois known as Oak Leaves Office Building. The subject property has a multi-tenant design that is currently occupied by third party tenants, has retail spaces offering good utility to the office space tenants and their customers. The building encompasses the entire site to leverage as much developable area and arterial exposure as possible. The property has good exposure along Lake Street, which serves as the primary hub of Downtown Oak Park business/commercial district.

The building fell into foreclosure in September 2010 after a rocky tenure under former owner Seymour Taxman, Wednesday Journal reports. Taxman told the paper the building's turning point was the departure of the Pioneer Press newspapers, which occupied roughly 10,000 square feet of office space.

On the ground floor, the building is occupied by two retailers, Penzey's Spices and Sprint. Scattered throughout the other floors are a various medical and dental offices. According to showcase.com, roughly 26,000 square feet of office space within the building remain vacant.

Interested? Tours of the building are scheduled for Aug. 27 and Sept. 5. For more information, contact Foresite Realty's Greg Nieder at (847) 939-6015 or gnieder@foresiterealty.com