Chicago Retail and Restaurant Thread

[spyguy]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-b...ate=2007-04-28

The Loop's storefront vacancy rate dropped to at least a five-year low in 2006 — to 11.9% from 16.9% in 2005 — Baum Realty Group says.

[nomarandlee]

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/f...eard08.article

Hungry? Best restaurant in U.S. is at 445 N. Clark
BEARD AWARDS | Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill receives culinary world's top honor

May 8, 2007
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter/jfuller@suntimes.com

Frontera Grill, chef Rick Bayless' contemporary Mexican restaurant, has been packing in the crowds since opening on Clark Street in 1987.

Don't expect that to change anytime soon.

The lively River North restaurant on Monday won the James Beard award for the nation's best restaurant. The awards, presented in New York City, are considered the pinnacle of the culinary industry. They are named for the late food writer.

This is the Frontera's first Beard award, though Bayless has collected a few over the years, including one for outstanding chef in 1995. Topolobampo -- the dressier sister restaurant to Frontera -- has been nominated twice for Beard awards.

Also taking top honors was Tru restaurant, which snagged the outstanding service award after being nominated in that category for the past three years. At the Streeterville restaurant, women are given stools on which to rest their handbags, and every diner leaves with a little bag of baked goodies.

The only other Chicago winner was chef Grant Achatz of Alinea restaurant, who was named best chef in the Great Lakes region. His competition included fellow Chicago chefs Bruce Sherman of North Pond and Carrie Nahabedian of Naha.

[pottebaum]

I've eaten there a few times...and I don't even really like Mexican food!

[samsonyuen]

Originally Posted by Loopy

That's Fortnum and Mason in London, I presume.

Well, when you think about it, Whole Foods built out into the Sullivan interior of Carsons could easily be as nice.

Harrod's

[Loopy]

..

[ardecila]

Wow, imagine Carson's done up like that. It'd be beautiful. Hopefully, the architects can look to other Sullivan designs for inspiration.

[spyguy]

Speed bump ahead on the Mag Mile
Vacancies poised to hit a 16-year high as Lord & Taylor, CompUSA go dark
By Eddie Baeb

Coming soon to the Magnificent Mile: vacant store space.

Lord & Taylor this year became the first department store to go dark on North Michigan Avenue in 15 years. The CompUSA store just off Michigan on Chicago Avenue shuts down this week, and the store next door, American Girl Place, in 2008 moves to some of Lord & Taylor's old space in Water Tower Place.

The moves could push the Mag Mile retail vacancy rate to 7.1% next year. That would be the highest since 1992, according to retail brokerage Northern Realty Group Ltd.

"This will have a profound impact on the character of retail on the street," says Bruce Kaplan, president of Northern Realty in Chicago, which has surveyed vacancies and rents annually since 1991. "Not since the late '80s has there been this many large blocks of retail space in play."

The vacancies will test demand for space on the city's premier shopping strip. And they come as a crop of just-off-the-avenue rivals — including Donald Trump's tower — are looming.



Full article

[spyguy]

http://www.suntimes.com/business/381...uire11.article

Sneak preview: Inn to replace Esquire
REDEVELOPMENT | Owner alters plans from small shops to 130-foot hotel; rezoning OK needed

May 11, 2007
BY DAVID ROEDER AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters

The owner of the shuttered Esquire theater, 58 E. Oak, has changed plans for the property and now plans to replace it with a 120-room hotel.

Zoning documents filed with the city show that the owner, M Development LLC, plans a building about 130 feet tall with the hotel and about 24,000 square feet of retail space. The site is on a stretch of Oak Street that includes high-end shops.

But it needs a zoning change to proceed. When M Development closed the Esquire last September, its principals said it wanted to replace it with a small building exclusively for boutique stores, a project that would not have required new zoning.

The new request triggers a review by the city's Planning and Zoning departments that could lead to a Chicago Plan Commission hearing in a few weeks.

Mark Hunt and Jeff Shapack, principals at M Development, could not be reached. Their firm also plans a 20-story hotel at 1112 N. State, site of a four-story building that dates from 1924. It's the old Cedar Hotel, and its terra cotta facade is to be incorporated into the new design.

The Esquire was an example of an ornate movie house dating from Hollywood's Golden Age of the 1930s, but in its last years it was relegated to second-run films. The newer multiplexes got the best bookings.

The City Council turned down landmark status for the theater in 1994.

[spyguy]

Music store to close; make room for clothes

By John Schmeltzer and Eric Benderoff
Tribune staff reporters.
Published May 19, 2007

Virgin Megastore, which opened less than a decade ago at one of the highest-profile intersections on Michigan Avenue, is closing.

The chain, in a statement e-mailed to the Tribune, said that it will close its Chicago and Salt Lake City stores in July. That will bring to seven the number of Virgin outlets that have been shuttered since last year as the music industry undergoes a seismic shift with growing competition from online music sales.

Virgin's Chicago space will be taken by Forever 21, which will open a Forever XXI store in the 40,000-square-foot space, according to Larry Meyer, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Los Angeles-based clothing chain. It will continue operating a Forever 21 on State Street as well as one in Water Tower Place.

Full Story

[spyguy]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/

N.Y. designer has designs on Bucktown

New York designer Nanette Lepore plans to open her first Chicago store in Bucktown at 1623 N. Damen. The store is expected to open by early fall. [Monée Fields-White]

[BFA]

Originally Posted by trvlr70

At Water Tower Place? Oh God, I hope not. I'm a fan of Target, but Michigan Av. should remain higher end in my opinion.

Well, your choice is Target or WalMart. What is higher end?

[pottebaum]

I wish they'd make an announcement regarding the Carson's building sometime soon.

[BFA]

Any idea if there are plans for a Potbelly's in the Lakeview area?

[spyguy]

http://www.newcityskyline.com/Palmer...enovation.html

Palmer House reinstated

Friday, May 04, 2007
By Kelly Matlock

As one of Chicago’s most celebrated works of architecture and the longest continuously operating hotel in North America, the Palmer House Hotel has an allure that no other building can imitate. Thankfully, 135 years after Potter and Bertha Honore Palmer opened their first hotel at Quincy and State on September 26, 1871, the spirit of the Palmer House will be repositioned through current renovations on 80 percent of the historic design.

[pottebaum]

Wow, that'll look great.

Another boost for State Street!

[spyguy]

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cg...ws.pl?id=25254

Juicy Couture coming to Oak Street

By Eddie Baeb

In the latest episode of “as Oak Street turns,” designer Juicy Couture, best-known for jogging suits with "Juicy" printed on the seat, is planning to make its Chicago debut while Enzo Angiolini is closing and Kate Spade is moving to a smaller store.

Juicy Couture, a Los Angeles-based brand owned by Liz Claiborne Inc., will take over the two-level, 4,000-square-foot store at 101 E. Oak St. where Kate Spade has operated since November 2000.

A far cry from Oak Street's heritage of upscale boutiques and European designer shops, Juicy Couture is a favorite of young fashionistas, including Paris Hilton. The company operates about 25 stores with two overseas and plans to have about 40 locations by the end of this year.

"Juicy Couture is young and fast," says John Jones, a co-owner of the men's clothing store George Greene at 49 E. Oak St. "When clothing stores come that are high-profile, it's just fine. It brings people to the street."

Kate Spade, which Liz Claiborne bought in December, will move to a 2,000-square-foot storefront next to the Esquire Theater at 56 E. Oak St. The New York-based retailer and handbag designer will sublease the space from Enzo Angiolini, a shoe store that's closing after moving there several years ago from Michigan Avenue.

A Kate Spade store manager says the retailer hopes to move in late fall, meaning Juicy Couture might open early next year.

Liz Claiborne was represented in the transactions by Sharon Kahan, a Chicago-based first vice-president with CB Richard Ellis Inc. Spokeswomen with Liz Claiborne and Enzo, which is part of New York-based Jones Apparel Group Inc., didn't return calls seeking comment.

"It's a strategic move for (Liz Claiborne)," Ms. Kahan says. "They wanted to have a flagship Juicy store. Chicago's an important market, and this opportunity came up. The new space worked for Kate Spade, so it all kind of came together."

She says Kate Spade is better suited for a 2,000-square-foot store, noting that its Oak Street location is one of the largest of the company's 23 stores nationwide. Ms. Kahan also says the addition of Juicy Couture continues the trend of Oak Street having a mix of high-end designers and jewelers and stores that sell more moderately priced wares aimed at younger shoppers.

"They'll fit in with what's been happening on the street," Ms. Kahan says.

Oak Street also has been abuzz recently with news that Barneys New York is moving to a new location; the proposed development of the Esquire Theater into a hotel and retail shops, and the pending arrival of well-known jewelers Harry Winston and David Yurman.

"It's an interesting thing to watch now that suddenly there's so much development on the street," says George Greene's Mr. Jones, who first worked on Oak Street in the early '70s.

[spyguy]

http://chicagorealestatedaily.com/cg...ws.pl?id=25255

Women’s clothing chain to join rivals on State Street

By Thomas A. Corfman

Young women’s apparel retailer Charlotte Russe has plans for a store on State Street, just a few doors from rivals Forever 21 and H&M.

San Diego-based Charlotte Russe Holdings Inc., which already has 17 stores in the Chicago area, would open its latest store at 10 S. State St., taking over space that was occupied until last month by Annie Sez, a discount, designer-label women's apparel chain.

Charlotte Russe would sublease the store from Annie’s parent company, New Jersey-based Big M Inc., which closed that location after barely a year and what some observers say were disappointing sales. Big M has a 10-year lease for about 17,200 square feet, according to a summary of the agreement filed with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

[samsonyuen]

From: http://www.suntimes.com/business/423...lord12.article
_____________

Lord & Taylor spiffs up, scouts out new sites
RETAIL | $400 mil. in renovations for America's oldest department store

June 12, 2007
BY SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com

Lord & Taylor is looking for new store sites in Chicago and the suburbs as it enjoys a sales jump from disenchanted Marshall Field's shoppers and battles a landlord that kicked it out of Water Tower Place.

Rumors are thick that Lord & Taylor might lose its No. 1 Chicago area store at Oakbrook Center in west suburban Oak Brook because the mall is owned by General Growth Properties, which decided last year that Lord & Taylor no longer fit Water Tower Place's image.

Lord & Taylor has been an Oakbrook department-store anchor for 34 years. Its lease expires in January 2009.
General Growth also owns Northbrook Center, but Lord & Taylor's lease at that mall is longer term.

Lord & Taylor CEO Jane Elfers said Monday that Lord & Taylor's new owner is spending millions to upgrade its stores at Northbrook Court, Old Orchard Shopping Center and Woodfield Mall and is looking for new store sites, including sites for free-standing stores.

"We believe strongly in Chicago," Elfers said in an interview Monday.

Macy's owner, Federated Department Stores (now called Macy's), sold Lord & Taylor last year for $1.1 billion to NRDC Equity Partners, a real estate player that had acquired Linens 'N Things for $1.3 billion in February 2006.

NRDC is spending $250 million on new paint, carpet, restrooms, dressing rooms and settings for its stores, plus $150 million to upgrade the New York flagship on Fifth Avenue.

"Shoppers will get an upscale experience, but not one that's rarefied air," Elfers said, explaining that Lord & Taylor doesn't compete with Saks or Neiman Marcus.

Elfers called the shuttering of the Water Tower store "really a blow," and "very, very difficult for us."

General Growth Properties, which said it wanted better-paying tenants at Water Tower, declined comment.

Elfers, an 18-year Lord & Taylor veteran who was appointed CEO seven years ago, spearheaded the closing of 32 stores four years ago in order to take Lord & Taylor back to its upscale, specialty-store roots.

Elfers said the decision to get rid of 85 percent of the merchandise at the same time was "gut-wrenching" but necessary to keep the retailer from looking like a mass-market department store.

"Our customers don't want 17 choices of a black sweater," she said. "They want an edited assortment, a friendly salesperson they know, and a quick in and out."

Lord & Taylor has seen its sales jump dramatically -- by 10 percentage points -- since Marshall Field's and other regional department stores such as Filene's and Hecht's gave way to Macy's last September.

"Lots of people, not just those in Chicago, had an opportunity to really take a new look at Lord & Taylor," Elfers said.

Lord & Taylor's strongest sales in Chicago come in dresses, shoes, cashmere, handbags and its little-known menswear department.

The retailer has hired photographer David Litman to design a marketing campaign for the fall, portraying the revived Lord & Taylor as a place for shoppers ages 25 to 65 to buy sportswear, modern styles and classic fashions.

Elfers said she considers her job a mission to keep alive America's oldest department store. Lord & Taylor started in New York 181 years ago.

[ardecila]

I love a CEO that will describe a business setback as "a total blow".

At any rate, I like what Lord and Taylor is doing in the menswear section. They have a lot of interesting stuff that isn't just the typical Chaps or Tommy Hilfiger.

[pottebaum]

It's awesome to hear they're looking for another Chicago location. Maybe 108 State Street?