Hot coffee drinks offer a great way to warm up on Winter days. If you’re ever looking for a spot to go for a first date, small meetings or just a place to chill with family and friends, consider Sip & Savor. Sip & Savor offers fair-trade coffee, exotic tea, decadent pastries, blended drinks, and lite bites. It is also a cultural focal point of the neighborhood and the newest location offers a history lesson.
Trez V. Pugh, III, Founder & CEO of Sip and Savor, Inc., held his grand opening Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, of his third location, located at the Rosenwald Court Apartments on the corner of 47th and Michigan Ave at 78 E. 47th Street. They are open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
What is exciting about this new location is that it’s in one of the most historic buildings in Chicago history. The Rosenwald Court Apartments was once the home of Nat “King” Cole, Gwendolyn Brooks, Quincy Jones, Joe Louis, and other legends in Chicago’s African-American community.
On Oct. 4, 2016, plans for the rehabilitation and reopening of the Rosenwald Court Apartment complex were unveiled. The lead developer, Landwhite Development LLC, had completed an ambitious $132 million restoration of the historic complex providing 235 one- and two-bedroom units for senior and family housing, with a restored landscape in the inner court and refurbished retail spaces lining Wabash and 47th streets. The project utilized an intricate layering of multiple essential tax incentives, including federal historic tax credits, low-income housing tax credits, tax-increment financing and a loan from the CHA.
Also, on Saturday Shawn Michelle’s Old Fashioned Homemade Ice Cream at 56 E. 47th Street (The Corner of 47th & Wabash) had their grand opening a few moments after Sip and Savor. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Alderman Pat Dowell, Trez Pugh, and community advisors and supporters witnessed and attended both grand openings.
The Rosenwald Court Apartments has a long history with the creator of the building, American businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald. After moderate success in the clothing business in Chicago (1885–95), Julius Rosenwald bought a one-fourth interest in Sears, Roebuck, and Co., which became the world’s largest mail-order house and chain of retail stores.
Being concerned with the welfare of U.S. Blacks, in 1917 he established the Julius Rosenwald Fund, the chief purpose of which was the improvement of education for Blacks. Augmented by local taxes and private gifts, the fund paid for the construction of more than 5,000 schools in 15 southern states. In Chicago, he established the Museum of Science and Industry(1929), worked with Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, on education, contributed heavily to the University of Chicago, and founded dental infirmaries in the public schools. His brother-in-law and vice president of Sears Roebuck & Co. Max Adler also established the Adler Planetarium, founded in 1930.
This third Sip and Savor opened with recognition to the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which generates revenue from downtown developments to finance commercial and cultural projects in Chicago neighborhoods lacking private investment .
Alderman Pat Dowell who attended the grand opening added, “I’m excited about this new opening. I’ve been talking to Trez for the last 3 to 4 years trying to assure him to come into the Rosenwald building and I’m glad to see that he’s here; this is the kind of development for business that the community deserves and it’s another great way for people to have coffee and meet people.”
Trez V. Pugh, III, founder and CEO of Sip and Savor, Inc. was part of the inaugural class of 2017 that received money from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. He was approved from among more than 800 applicants.
Pugh stated that this opportunity has been enlightening to him and the same integrity and standards that the other Sip and Savors hold at the other sites will remain at this location.
“They all pretty much will be the same; they all have this crisp, clean, classy, consistent, customer service, point of view,” Pugh said. “The thing that’s going to be a little bit different about this place is the history involved in this building. You’re going to have the history of the people that stayed here in the neighborhood that used to live here 30, 40 years ago. I didn’t know a lot about this building at first, I came from the North Side then I moved to the South Side. After I started speaking to people learning more about what this building meant back in the day, I have people come up to me almost in tears and tell me ‘I used to live in this place, I raised my kids here and everything,’ that’s what makes a big difference.”
Pugh, who mentors “at risk” kids and is passionate about doing his part in creating jobs, offers a hub for teens and adults through his Sip and Savor locations.
Pugh has declared that anyone who comes into the Rosenwald location can expect a very classy and elegant space; they can expect excellent customer service done in a respectful way and in return we expect them to respect the business.”
For more information on the coffee house, go to www.sipandsavorchicago.com
If you have a project that will help build a stronger commercial corridor in your neighborhood, Apply for the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund today.
https://neighborhoodopportunityfund.com/apply/
About Post Author
