Update: Everything on this block has now been demolished.

A catastrophic fire struck the buildings of what I understand to be the old Sligo Steel buildings on the Near North Side along North Broadway just north of Downtown.

This is not the first time these buildings have been hit by fire; I covered a previous one back in August of 2016 (there are others, I think).

And if you’re wondering how the heck someone painted that gigantic tag on the side of the building above, I would remind readers that the vacant lot in front of that wall was until two years ago the site of the Fred J. Swaine Manufacturing Company building, which also burned down.

All of the buildings in the photograph below have been hit by fire.

The vinyl siding of the public housing across the street was melted by the intense heat of the flames. If there is anything positive to say, it is that the apartments were already vacant so no one was displaced by the fire.

In fact, thinking back, I feel like I read that the majority of that public housing project is abandoned because no one wants to take on management responsibilities. Look how close to downtown it is. In the majority of cities around the world, people would be fighting over the development rights to this land…