Whatever the case, yesterday was not a positive day for the Motor Row district -- the city's attempt to make Michigan Avenue south of Cermak into an entertainment mecca. Chicagorealestatedaily.com reports:
Deals to bring a Cheap Trick-themed night club and a circus-cabaret dinner theater to Motor Row have fizzled, a double blow to the city's plan to turn the strip west of McCormick Place into an entertainment district.
The owner of a building at 2245 S. Michigan Ave. has put the property up for sale after developer Landmark America LLC couldn't deliver on plans to turn the former Buick dealership into a Cheap Trick restaurant, music venue and museum, said Mark Nelson, principal at NelsonHill, the Chicago-based brokerage hired to sell the building.The silver lining is that it sounds like the businesses still have interest in the area, but not in the developer.
For the savvy, well informed reader you may remember that the developer, the embattled Pam Gleichman, has had a lot of issues with her projects in Motor Row.
So why did we say 2 steps forward and only 1 step back? In our mind, the new Green line CTA stop at Cermak is a huge step forward. Even if these two businesses don't end up in Motor Row...some will eventually.
It's just taking a lonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg time.
(Hat tip: EM, AR, TL!)
13 comments:
The businesses in question were uninspiring at best. But anything would have been better than nothing. Too bad. Between the CTA stop and the arena (!) it's got to happen, just make take some time.
so sorry but maybe if alot of the stubborn people on this blog would actually stop being motor row apologists and just admit its a derelict, dingy, old, south side dumpy area and thats never going to change......get over yourselves
YEAH!! PAM GLEICHMANN HAS BEEN HOLDING UP DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHOLE AREA FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS. HAPPY TO SEE THAT SOMETHING ELSE CAN FINALLY HAPPEN!!!!
Stop kidding yourselves: proximity to bronzeville, englewood, and the ever-expanding war zone just south of motor row will ensure that this area never blossoms. Sorry if that isn't PC; it's the truth. Take it from a business owner who would NEVER open a location within a stones throw from the throngs of parentless, unsupervised, young criminals who bombard north Michigan ave with "snatch and grab" flash mob theft every summer. If they don't hesitate to go all the way up north to do it, a district of shops on the south end of our hood would (sadly) be sitting ducks.
Anon 8:28- Proximity to Englewood?.....Seriously?
I could care less whether your comment is PC or not, but at least try to be accurate. Did you fail geography in 7th grade?
Please identify the "2 steps forward."
Read the article in today's SunTimes touting all the major projects planned by the Rhambo administration. FYI: none of them are in the Sloop. That "music district" we all thought we were getting? It will be in Uptown. That huge farmers market we thought was coming to old Ickes site? It's going in the west loop by the Unitef Center along the Eisenhower Expressway. Also funny: it talks about trying to make motor row an entertainment district as part of improvements to BRONZEVILLE, not the Sloop (see, even the mayor and city hall do NOT consider motor row part of the south loop). Lastly, there's zero mention of any DePaul Stadium project in the sloop (thankfully, that one died when the big east fell apart and DePaul split with all the "big" schools).
Man beaten to death at Bronzeville Green Line eL stop last night. Tell me again? You people think business owners need any more reasons to NOT invest in Motor Row? Enough said.
Actual update: Cheap Trick said that they are still planning to open in the same location and Teatro is still planning to open in Motor Row, but might be another building. For crime to happen around 43rd street(!) and be associated to Motor Row is retarded. Yes, I said retarded. You will not find ONE MAJOR CRIME in the South Loop (I'm talking about only about the south part of the south Loop to make an even stronger point) and hundreds of them in the West Loop vacinity.
You do start getting issues past 35th street, but if you look at Chicago, ALL OF THE AREAS are only 1 mile away from trouble in some direction. The area is perfectly situated to become a very unique area like Milwaukee's Third Ward District.
hey, this has dragged on for ever!!!! pam gleichman is a litigious sleazy developer who is not to trusted or believed! she is financially insolvent,period!!
if you actually think that motor row is safe, and that people would want to dine al fresco with bums passing by asking for change...... then YOU are the one who is retarded
Take it easy. The area is one of the safest and in terms of 'bums' it is the same one or two guys who are over at Clark and Cermak and only there about 10% of the time throughout the year. Go up to the north side, loop, river north, west loop, any other area and there are true bums there 100% of the time. Motor Row is going to change fast, just needs development.
ANON @ 3:16 IS OBTUSE
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