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Michael Healey's goal for the building that now houses his company's headquarters seems to be in a smooth dovetail with the aim of the South Side House Tour on April 24.

"When we saw this, we decided we wanted an urban, mixed-use building that in some ways could set the standards for what the South Side is all about," says the president of the Healey Company, a real estate development firm.

"We want to reflect the way the South Side is a very user-friendly kind of place," says Bill Horne, head of asset management for the firm. "It's a place where you can walk to grocery stores, wings-and-beer places or five-star dining."

That kind of mixture has given the Healey Building a spot on the house tour for reasons other than the nine apartments that are part of it.

Work at the building has been a steady project since 1999, when Healey bought it as a way of moving his company out of his apartment. He describes his business as "a full-service real estate development firm built on portfolio and property management."

The firm, which has 62 units in 22 properties -- mostly in the South Side -- was founded in 1995.

He says he and others in the firm didn't know quite what to do with the building, so "we just put it on the back burner for 18 months while we thought about it." The Mazco Co., a vending machine equipment supply firm, took space on the first floor in 2002.

The Healey headquarters moved into the basement of the building in 2003. The area has offices for the six principals, a conference room, an entrance waiting room and a kitchen. Steel supports replaced brick pillars, and light-colored walls gave the formerly dark area a modern brightness.

But, Healey points out, original features were used when they were appropriate, such as the stone exterior wall in the conference room.

"We want to make it casual, urban, minimal, adaptable and flexible for any future tenant -- if there would be one," Horne says.

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