West Loop

Facing demolition, Fulton Market street art turned into 'giant coloring book’

The vacant building was transformed into a temporary collaborative canvas

By Jay Koziarz Jul 29, 2016, 11:36am CDT

Dozens of West Loopers of all ages braved yesterday’s scattered rain showers to take part in a collaborative, free-form street art project. Encouraged to grab paintbrushes to join California-based artist Lauren Asta, the group added splashes of color the black-and-white mural at southeast the corner of Lake and Morgan in anticipation of the building’s upcoming date with the wrecking ball. The event was organized by local developer Jeff Shapack who first invited Asta to unleash her creativity on the vacant single-story building at 185 N. Morgan two months earlier.

The current structure will be replaced by a new single-story commercial development with Shake Shack announced as a tenant. Expected to open 2017, the Fulton Market Shake Shack will be the New York-based restaurant's third Chicago location after it arrived in River North in 2014 and at the Chicago Athletic Association across from Millennium Park just last summer. The project will also see the addition of a new "people space" in the unused loading lane along Morgan street.