Every day was a passion project for longtime Chicago developer Paul Levy.
Mr. Levy was a driving force behind the meticulous rehab of two industrial brick behemoths that have become well-known to Chicagoans: the Bridgeport Art Center on the South Side and Rockwell on the River on the North Side — celebrated neighborhood anchors that host artists, businesses and event spaces.
“Unlike other developers who are in such a hurry to get a tenant in and collect rent, he saw these as his legacy projects,” said architect Pat Rosen, who worked with Mr. Levy on Rockwell on the River. “He was a curator of the tenants.”
Mr. Levy died Sept. 22 in Chicago from natural causes.
To illustrate his attention to detail, one can look at the intricate cobblestone patterns in the courtyard and riverfront space at Rockwell on the River in the Avondale neighborhood.
The idea for the design element was seeded on a trip to Florence, Italy, where Mr. Levy went beyond simply admiring the cobblestone streetscapes. He visited the quarry where they were dug up and struck a deal with its manager that included not only a shipment of granite to Chicago but a crew of Italian craftsmen to install them.
A flabbergasted customs agent at O’Hare challenged the craftsmen about the reason for their visit, boasting that Chicago already had the greatest masons in the world. The craftsmen, some of whom Mr. Levy put up in his Lincoln Park home, emerged with a chip on their shoulders to show what they could do.
“They just went crazy with these fan patterns and ornate rosettes, and it ended up getting this incredible project,” Rosen said.
For decades, Mr. Levy ran Prairie Management & Development Inc. with his partner Tony Augustine. Their firm took on a variety of projects but mostly focused on developing and managing affordable housing projects.
In describing their business ethos, Mr. Augustine stated: “If you have a decent place to live and raise your family, and provide an environment for your children, it makes a difference. And if it’s not that, it makes a difference also, and it’s a very negative difference.”
One of Mr. Levy’s favorite tales was that of Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 crossing of the Pacific Ocean in a balsawood raft, said his daughter, Ali Levy.
Mr. Levy became a lifelong traveler, often seeking out remote locations around the world.
Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was one of his closest friends and travel companions.
Mr. Levy, his wife, Mia Park, and their daughter went on annual family vacations with Emanuel, his wife Amy Rule, and their kids Zach, Leah and Ilana.
“One year, we spent New Year’s Eve at some family’s tree house home in a small village of about 200 people in Indonesia, and to get back to where we were staying, we had to walk eight hours through the mountains,” Emanuel recalled.
“How’d he find these places? I don’t know how. Not worth asking. If you were Paul’s friend, you were along for one of the great journeys in life,” Emanuel said.
It wasn’t clear they’d be pals the first time they met.
Emanuel was a recent college graduate working as a fundraiser for a consumer rights group, and Mr. Levy would not take his call seeking a donation until one day, after three months of calling, Mr. Levy picked up the wrong line and Emanuel gave him the “don’t hang up” pitch.
“He ended up supporting what I was doing, and we became lifelong friends. I can’t believe he thought I was a pest on fundraising,” Emanuel said wryly.
Mr. Levy also testified on Emanuel’s behalf when his status as a Chicago resident was being challenged in 2010 before his mayoral run.
Mr. Levy was born in Chicago May 2, 1942, to Albert and Frances Levy and grew up in South Shore.
As a kid, he had an expansive collection of military gear because one of his dad’s friends ran an Army surplus store. Mr. Levy spent days with neighborhood kids simulating battle scenes in a vacant lot across from their apartment building, said his sister Barbara Isenberg.
Around the time he finished grade school, Mr. Levy’s family moved to Winnetka, and he attended New Trier High School. He went on to study civil engineering at the University of Michigan, where he competed as a gymnast on the pommel horse.
He almost flunked out because he spent too much time on his frat’s effort to create adventure-themed contraptions for an annual spring carnival.
“One year, Paul built this thing where there was a damsel strapped to a conveyor belt, and you had to save her before it got to the sawmill,” said his college friend Lee Redstone. “He’d just take on these incredibly complex projects. It was just like, ‘Paul, this is impossible.’ And he said ‘That’s why we’re going to do it.'”
Mr. Levy also earned a master’s in business from Michigan and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Mr. Levy was a longtime supporter of the arts, including the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, and sat on the board of the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance.
Mr. Levy, an avid skier into his 80s, worked and was making travel plans in the weeks before he passed away.
“I keep going to grab my phone to call him,” Ali Levy said. “Because he would always pick up the phone to help you through whatever you were going through.”
A private memorial for friends and family is being held Sunday at Rockwell on the River.