Sonia Danielsen’s roots in River North have grown in a new direction, and countless folks will be thankful for that.
Danielsen has reinvented the Blake Street print shop she purchased from her father as a many-sided project called Bindery on Blake. People can watch beer and hard cider being produced while taste testing beverages with a meal. They could rent an artist studio for $500 a month, or they may happen to work for one of the companies that leased up all the office space before the project’s delivery this month.
“Twenty years ago, I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like when printing was no longer,” said Danielsen, who sold the printing business in 2004 and kept the real estate at 2875 and 2901 Blake. Danielsen originally thought she’d convert the building to multitenant industrial space. Instead it became all things RiNo.
The Rackhouse is Bindery on Blake’s restaurant, a mezzanine-level venue sandwiched between Bierstadt Lager and C Squared Cider. From the Rackhouse, with its imported copper brew kettles, you can look below at the production facilities and C Squared’s office – a repurposed train car.
