However, the more interesting development is that a Subway is going to be moving into the prime retail space on the corner.
A commenter named Molly tipped the blog that it was a Subway and sure enough it is. We peaked in recently and saw the standard Subway 'fake brick' decorative walling being installed and if that's not enough to squash your doubts, they're website should put the icing on the cake. (type in 60605 in the store locator and you will see that the 1212 S. Michigan Subway is opening soon).As always, we like to see stores, restaurants and businesses opening up in the South Loop, so naturally we think this is good for the neighborhood. In a perfect world this high profile spot would have been a nice, unique neighborhood restaurant (which was reported last year by Crain's). However, something is better then nothing in our opinion.
What remains to be seen is whether or not they will have outdoor seating. Typically this isn't the case with subways (as far as we know), but given that the retail space they're occupying looks to have a great outdoor area our guess would be yes.
The other question is what does this mean for the Subway at 13th and Wabash? There is no need to have two Subways in this part of the Sloop so close to each other (not to mention if both could survive). Could this open up a retail spot for another 'local' restaurant or business on South Wabash? We hope so.
As we mentioned in the old post on this subject, Flo & Santos seems to have brought a jolt of energy to 1300 block of Wabash....maybe the momentum can bring another place into the fold.
