Madison Highlands, Oak Park, 74k SF - Adding a new touch of class to Frank Lloyd Wright's classic Oak Park style are Nevin Hedlund Architects' Lauren Hepner, Nevin Hedlund, and Will Gamble, with attorney Masaru Takiguchi  and the not-pictured Mary Jo Schuler and Frank Muriello. The LEED-Silver project will include retail and office. Nevin calls Oak Park an ideal suburban Chicago office location because it's on the L and Metra lines and equidistant from both airports. He also expects it will help keep small businesses in town, rather than heading into the city.

ID Label Warehouse, Lake Villa, 20k-SF -  In May, we covered the groundbreaking; now, the new office and warehouse for label maker ID Label is wrapped up with a big ribbon. Principle Construction's Jim Brucato (second from right) says completing the project on a tight timetable was helped by the owner's quick decisions on building specs. The new flex space is next door to the company's old haunt on Park St. Wintrust Financial  provided the loan.

ID Label events always have the best name tags. But if you can't read 'em, we'll tell you that's the ID and Principle teams (including Principle's Mike Long, right), celebrating with a newly engraved crystal water pitcher on Friday. The LEED-certified warehouse includes motion-sensor lighting, a TPO roof, and low-flow plumbing. The company is growing, having recently bought a Boston labeling company, so they also left room to expand the building and parking lot. Now, they'll just need a bigger beer pitcher.

IIT's Soft Landing Center, South Side, $20M Renovation - Another ribbon-cutting was taking place on Thursday, where MRSA Architects  completed the renovations of Wexford Science and Technology's Soft Landing Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology. We snapped Wexford's Bernie Craig and MRSA's Liz Peron  and Michael Semenzin showing us a biotech business space. The small offices and research spaces are designed to support small businesses getting off the ground on campus. Yes, there is life outside of downtown, sometime by giving life to life science entrepreneurs. Isn't life crazy?