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#2: Roosevelt Collection and its Retail
Like 2011, retail was a big story for the Sloop this year and it wouldn't be complete if Roosevelt Collection wasn't mentioned. We've done our fair share of coverage on this topic, and won't bore you with all of the post, but needless to say, there was some big news coming out of Roosevelt Collection in 2012.
As many of you know, McCaffery Interests bought Roosevelt Collection way back in June of 2011. In our opinion this was a good thing. The development needed some fresh blood and a new team committed to making this project work. We also like the fact that Magic Johnson was involved with it (however, not sure how much he was really involved).
In August of 2011 we heard plans to demolish the buildings in the middle of the complex and build out a more pedestrian friendly area. Again a step in the right direction if you ask us.
Then in February of 2012, Dan McCaffery announced his goal that:
Construction on the property will begin immediately so that we can stay on track to host a Grand Opening before November 1st of this year. In addition to having construction complete by that time, we plan to have 75% of our retail stores leased and opening as well. Our team is working diligently to secure retailers so that we will have more exciting announcements to come.A bold statement, but something that made us and others excited. As construction moved forward, rumors began to emerge and we were getting a lot of tips from a variety of people.
In April, a reader posted that rumor on the street was that RC had signed up 18 impressive retail tenants. We pondered that it may be a late April fools joke, but again we were excited (as you can see it doesn't take much to get us excited).
Than the mother of all rumors came out. An Apple Store was coming to Roosevelt Collection! Brigid Sweeney, a blogger at Crain's, even had a post stating that Alderman Fioretti had confirmed this. McCaffery and Fioretti quickly backed down from this statement though.
As the November 1st goal was rapidly approaching, YardHouse a popular bar/restaurant chain listed a location at Roosevelt Collection on their website in August. However after we posted our story, the restaurant took down their listing.
Months went on and the excitement built. November 1st came............but we didn't hear anything.
Then on November 9th we got an invitation to come to an announcement on November 28th about retail at Roosevelt Collection. Obviously we obliged.
Before that though, it was leaked that Fleet Feet would open at RC. People were excited!
And then finally, we heard a full list of retailers that had signed leases:
- H&M
- ULTA Beauty
- Fancesca's Collection
- BlackFinn American Grille
- Z Gallerie
- Fleet Feet Sports
- White House Black Market
- Republic of Couture
- Chica Loca (by Restaurants-America)
A solid list indeed and definitely provides reason to be excited. However, there wasn't an Apple store and Yard House was missing as well. The McCaffery team went on to state that they will also hope to have some additional announcements in the spring. The other thing to note is that these stores won't open until the Autumn 2013...
If that wasn't enough of a Roosevelt Collection update for you, we also just read in December that they are trying to get city permission to build a new British School of Chicago on the land that sits just North of the current Roosevelt Collection. That was supposed to be a public park. We will see where that goes in 2013.
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