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. Today, work is being wrapped up on the ambitious project and according to ARTnews magazine, the new Stony Island Arts Bank will finally open on October 3, the same day as the first Chicago Architecture Biennial kickoff. According to Gates, the new facility will feature an art gallery, media archive, a library and a community center. Gates describes the new center as "An institution of and for the South Side—a repository for African American culture and history, a laboratory for the next generation of black artists and culture-interested people."
·Theaster Gates's Ambitious New Chicago Arts Center Will Open in October [ARTnews]
·Previous Theaster Gates coverage [Curbed Chicago]
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