Old Plank Road Antiques hopes for new life with move to Highwood

A long-vacant, vast Highwood building will once again come to life thanks to a vintage Chicago staple.

Old Plank Road Antiques, a celebrated local business that had roots in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood for decades, is planning to relocate and open at the former home of 210 Live at 210 Green Bay Road.

Highwood’s City Council during its Tuesday, April 21 meeting approved an appearance review application that will allow the soon-to-be local business to continue making improvements to its future storefront.

The approval from the April 21 session granted permission to install a new wall sign and paint the exterior of the building white. Old Plank’s team is also revamping the interior of the space as well.

Winnetka residents Robin and Richard Buxbaum first opened Old Plank Road Antiques in 1992 in Westmont, a western suburb. The business later moved to a 30,000-plus square-foot showroom in Logan Square that remained open until this year.

According to the business’s website, Old Plank’s mission is “to discover, carefully curate and connect specialized artifacts to the human experience through an ominous eye, while building, designing and crafting state-of-the-art furnishings to withstand the test of time and live in the family home for generations to come.”

Additionally, the company says it aims to “unite all antique enthusiasts, vintage dwellers and old world appreciators with the classical items of their archival dreams, in the hopes of celebrating and commiserating in our joint love of history, culture, art, tradition and old-time craftsmanship.”

In a letter sent to the city, Richard Buxbaum said the building, built in 1949, has undergone numerous external repairs that in each case used a different color of brick. When the duo purchased the building, the parapet wall was so weak that it could be moved with the push of someone’s hands, he said in the letter.

Additionally, he wrote, the north wall near the street bulged out significantly and the southwest corner also had extensive damage to the point where daylight could be seen through cracks in the masonry.

These factors contributed in part to the decision to request to paint the building one color to achieve a “uniform look.”

The property has been vacant since 2021 when 210 Live, a venue well known for staging live music performances, shuttered.

Lake County property records show the property was sold in November of last year for $1.05 million. Public records for the site show that at a point in 2023 the site was listed for $1.35 million.

According to that same listing, the property with the two-story building covers just over 16,5000 square feet of land and includes dedicated parking in the rear.

Assistant City Manager Marc Facchini told The Record that the city does not have a tentative opening date for the business but that Old Plank still “has a road ahead of them to wrap up their interior remodel.”

The city is working closely with the business on that interior remodel and aside from ongoing inspections, there aren’t many further approvals the business will need from the city prior to opening, Facchini noted.

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