Morgan Manufacturing Announces Innovation Lab In Fulton Market’s Innovation District
August 25, 2014
(August 25, 2014) Chicago, IL – Morgan MFG, an adaptive re-use project located in Fulton Market’s new Innovation District is set to open in September, combining a creative and complementary mix of uses in a former manufacturing complex. The series of six interconnected buildings will feature a 32,000 square foot Innovation Lab, 25,000 square feet of creative/tech office space, a brasserie and café, a craft distillery, and tenant amenities including indoor bicycle storage, a fitness center with personal showers, an outdoor dog run, and an open-air roof top terrace where cubicles give way to cabanas and sun-shaded work spaces.
Morgan Manufacturing’s mission is to facilitate the intersection of Chicago’s business, technology, artistic, and philanthropic communities by bringing a world-class creative industrial loft space designed to facilitate collaboration, ideation and creation. The project also features numerous green components, including a renewable energy system that will provide more than 10% of the building’s electrical needs from solar-powered cells, and the decorative reuse of original structural and mechanical elements.
Entrepreneur and Chicago native Marc Bushala is the driving force behind Morgan MFG. Bushala has extensive experience in creating and building businesses in the real estate, marketing services, media, food and beverage, and entertainment sectors in the United States and Europe. In 2012, Bushala was awarded the Most Innovative Restaurateur award by the Chicago Innovation Awards. Bushala states, “I am thrilled to have a small part in the ongoing evolution of the Fulton Market area from a meat-packing district to Chicago’s hub of innovation. In today’s knowledge-driven economy, there is an increasing need for flexible new spaces that can accommodate unpredictability and enable information and collaboration to flow freely. My goal for Morgan Manufacturing is to be a resource center devoted to fostering the collaborations that lead to successful innovation.”
The $19M adaptive-reuse project provides cleverly designed and curated spaces available to businesses and non-profits that are looking for a venue for networking, brainstorming, and fundraising. In the development process, the team behind Morgan MFG has been in discussions with several Chicago organizations, from tech incubators to area hospitals to children’s choirs, to explore both their needs and gaps in the market. Subsequently, Morgan MFG has formed several strategic alliances that will foster development and innovation in Chicago.
To that end, Morgan MFG and the Chicago Innovation Awards have announced a partnership that will make the Innovation Lab the new home of The Innovators Connection. The program will use the new center to execute its efforts to connect large corporations with innovative Chicagoland companies, which will consist of meetings, events, and demo days throughout the year. The Innovator’s Connection will be one of the key elements of Morgan MFG.
“The spirit of innovation is thriving in Chicago,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel when The Innovators Connection was launched in 2013. “Big and small businesses have the potential to grow even faster through cooperation and interaction. The Innovators Connection fosters this interaction, helping to create jobs and economic opportunity for our city and its residents.”
Morgan MFG is also partnering with organizations such as Illinois Technology Association, Rush Hospital, Chicago Children’s Choir, Advocate Children’s Hospital, Meals on Wheels, Urban Initiatives, Evanston Youth Job Center, and other non-profit and technology organizations to serve as a space to host fund-raisers and meetings.
Morgan MFG has also signed a lease for 6,000 square feet of tech office space with Swedish digital agency Nansen. Nansen creates digital solutions for a wide variety for global clients such as Electrolux and Coop.
Bushala stated that Morgan MFG has two other letters of intent for another 20,000 square feet of office space, one with a Chicago based innovator in the apparel space and one with another technology based marketing firm. He expects to announce the deals once concluded in September.
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(August 25, 2014) Chicago, IL – Morgan MFG, an adaptive re-use project located in Fulton Market’s new Innovation District is set to open in September, combining a creative and complementary mix of uses in a former manufacturing complex. The series of six interconnected buildings will feature a 32,000 square foot Innovation Lab, 25,000 square feet of creative/tech office space, a brasserie and café, a craft distillery, and tenant amenities including indoor bicycle storage, a fitness center with personal showers, an outdoor dog run, and an open-air roof top terrace where cubicles give way to cabanas and sun-shaded work spaces.
Morgan Manufacturing’s mission is to facilitate the intersection of Chicago’s business, technology, artistic, and philanthropic communities by bringing a world-class creative industrial loft space designed to facilitate collaboration, ideation and creation. The project also features numerous green components, including a renewable energy system that will provide more than 10% of the building’s electrical needs from solar-powered cells, and the decorative reuse of original structural and mechanical elements.
Entrepreneur and Chicago native Marc Bushala is the driving force behind Morgan MFG. Bushala has extensive experience in creating and building businesses in the real estate, marketing services, media, food and beverage, and entertainment sectors in the United States and Europe. In 2012, Bushala was awarded the Most Innovative Restaurateur award by the Chicago Innovation Awards. Bushala states, “I am thrilled to have a small part in the ongoing evolution of the Fulton Market area from a meat-packing district to Chicago’s hub of innovation. In today’s knowledge-driven economy, there is an increasing need for flexible new spaces that can accommodate unpredictability and enable information and collaboration to flow freely. My goal for Morgan Manufacturing is to be a resource center devoted to fostering the collaborations that lead to successful innovation.”
The $19M adaptive-reuse project provides cleverly designed and curated spaces available to businesses and non-profits that are looking for a venue for networking, brainstorming, and fundraising. In the development process, the team behind Morgan MFG has been in discussions with several Chicago organizations, from tech incubators to area hospitals to children’s choirs, to explore both their needs and gaps in the market. Subsequently, Morgan MFG has formed several strategic alliances that will foster development and innovation in Chicago.
To that end, Morgan MFG and the Chicago Innovation Awards have announced a partnership that will make the Innovation Lab the new home of The Innovators Connection. The program will use the new center to execute its efforts to connect large corporations with innovative Chicagoland companies, which will consist of meetings, events, and demo days throughout the year. The Innovator’s Connection will be one of the key elements of Morgan MFG.
“The spirit of innovation is thriving in Chicago,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel when The Innovators Connection was launched in 2013. “Big and small businesses have the potential to grow even faster through cooperation and interaction. The Innovators Connection fosters this interaction, helping to create jobs and economic opportunity for our city and its residents.”
Morgan MFG is also partnering with organizations such as Illinois Technology Association, Rush Hospital, Chicago Children’s Choir, Advocate Children’s Hospital, Meals on Wheels, Urban Initiatives, Evanston Youth Job Center, and other non-profit and technology organizations to serve as a space to host fund-raisers and meetings.
Morgan MFG has also signed a lease for 6,000 square feet of tech office space with Swedish digital agency Nansen. Nansen creates digital solutions for a wide variety for global clients such as Electrolux and Coop.
Bushala stated that Morgan MFG has two other letters of intent for another 20,000 square feet of office space, one with a Chicago based innovator in the apparel space and one with another technology based marketing firm. He expects to announce the deals once concluded in September.
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