Fire damaged a portion of the former Haeger Potteries facility in East Dundee, which the village is in the process of selling to a company for redevelopment.
East Dundee Fire Protection District firefighters were called to 7 Maiden Lane about 10:50 a.m. Thursday, according to preliminary reports. The fire appeared to be in the area where Haeger’s kilns and retail shop were once located.
Fire crews needed about 10 minutes to put out the small, unattended blaze, Deputy Chief Joe Schwab said. Due to the amount of smoke and the possibility that homeless people might be living in the structures, the district called in assistance from other departments, including Carpentersville, West Dundee, Rutland-Dundee and Hoffman Estates, he said.
Earlier this week, the East Dundee Village Board signed off on plans to begin negotiating the project details with Brinshore Development, which will pay $1 for the site and proposes demolishing most of the buildings to make way for 136 new apartment and town house units.
They planned to keep and renovate a three-story loft building at the north end and a low-slung industrial building near the middle of the block. It’s not clear if either of those structures were damaged.
Haeger Potteries has been vacant since closing in 2016 after 145 years in business. German immigrant David H. Haeger purchased the brickyard in the late 1800s, and at one time the company was a leading manufacturer of decorative pottery in the United States.
Haeger also manufactured bricks that helped Chicago rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
The property is comprised of several buildings, including one used as a factory and another where the pottery was created. They have fallen into disrepair over the years.
East Dundee purchased the property for $600,000 last year with the goal of redeveloping it.
Brinshore would oversee for the $76.3 million redevelopment, plans for which must be approved by the village. The Evanston-based company would be responsible for demolition and construction.
The loft building is to be used for apartments and the industrial building for residential amenities, like a community center and courtyard, a Brinshore representative said. The development will include a Haeger Preservation Plaza to honor the site’s history. An area where the factory’s kilns were located will be incorporated into the design.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.