LAKEVIEW — Over the past several years, the business corridor near Clark and Roscoe streets in Lakeview has been marked by an unusually high number of closures.
Beloved neighborhood staples like Town Hall Pub, Pick Me Up Café and Redmond’s Ale House have all shut their doors since 2020, casualties of a one-two punch: the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the Chicago Transit Authority’s massive Red and Purple Line Modernization project.
For small businesses in the area, survival has meant weathering disruptions like rerouted sidewalks, shuttered patios and a near constant flow of construction traffic.
The Red and Purple Line project was always going to take years, but coupled with the pandemic, many small business owners couldn’t afford to stay in the fight.
But as the first phase of the CTA’s rebuild project winds down, there are signs of a rebound.
“The people investing now see where this is going,” said Maureen Martino, executive director of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. “I think the future is very bright for businesses, but these are the growing pains.”
In 2019, the CTA broke ground on the $2.1 billion modernization project, which was the largest capital improvement project in the agency’s history until the Red Line extension topped it.
The first phase of the project focused on updating aging infrastructure, particularly the 100-year-old tracks from just north of Belmont Avenue to just south of Addison Street where the Red, Purple and Brown lines meet.
For decades, all three train lines met on a flat grade, creating a bottleneck where trains had to stop and wait for each one to pass.
“During rush hour, that created ripple effects across the CTA system,” CTA spokesperson Tammy Chase said. “We couldn’t add more trains without making the congestion worse.”
To fix it, the CTA built what’s now known as the Red-Purple Bypass, a massive flyover bridge that opened just north of the Belmont station in 2021. It allows the Brown Line to pass over the Red and Purple tracks.
The modernization project also extends farther north where the CTA has rebuilt four Red Line stations between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr avenues. Those new stations are larger, fully accessible with elevators and escalators, and a “massive improvement” over the outdated stops they replaced, Chase said.
However, the complexity and scale of a project like this comes with costs to businesses in the area.
“If you’re at ground zero at Roscoe and Clark, you don’t know from day to day when the next street closure is coming,” Martino said. “One minute, you’re open for business, and the next, no one can get to your storefront.”
As part of the modernization project, the CTA used eminent domain to acquire and demolish nearly 20 privately owned parcels near the Belmont Avenue corridor, including both residential and commercial buildings.
“When you look at the 18 or so parcels that were taken, a lot of businesses went with them,” Martino said. “We lost close to eight or nine businesses during the construction period.”
Several longtime businesses were demolished and did not reopen elsewhere, including Clark Street Beach, Beggars Pizza, Johnny O’Hagans and Bolat African Cuisine, according to the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce.
Gold Crown Liquors was also demolished but later reopened in a new location nearby, as did the Clarkport Pantry, which now shares space with the relocated Gold Crown.
A handful of storefronts remain vacant after closing, including Pick Me Up Café, Blown Hair Salon, Redmond’s and Blarney Stone.
The construction period also lined up with the pandemic, during which time more than 4,400 businesses in the city closed. In the restaurant sector alone, more than 18 percent of the city’s restaurants closed within the first 16 months of the pandemic, Crain’s reported in 2021.
“Of course the COVID pandemic played into all of this,” Martino said. “Businesses were already struggling with construction and access issues, then the pandemic hit. Many didn’t survive. It was the final blow.”
Five years after construction started, this small corner of Lakeview at Clark and Roscoe streets is showing signs of life.
In the last year, Istmo, a high-end Oaxacan restaurant, debuted at 3231 N. Clark St. and has become a local favorite, Martino said.
Noori Chicken, a Korean fried chicken spot, also opened nearby at 3223 N. Clark St. Just around the corner, 3SixtyVibes launched a holistic wellness studio focused on serving the LGBTQ+ community.
A handful of new spots have also opened in the past few months along Clark Street and Sheffield Avenue.
Rendang Republic, a casual Indonesian takeout restaurant, opened at 3355 N. Clark St.; Levant Coffee opened its second location at 3301 N. Sheffield Ave.; and Neva Hangry, serving Southern comfort food, recently set up shop at 3404 N. Clark St.
Felix, a modern American restaurant and cocktail bar, recently opened at 3301 N. Clark St. And Dad’s Place is opening soon in the former Houndstooth Saloon location at 3367 N. Clark St.
“What we’ve seen over the last six months or so is a bit of a resurgence,” Martino said. “We’re seeing a diverse mix of new businesses coming into the neighborhood.”
The turnaround didn’t happen overnight. At times, it felt like there wasn’t any light at the end of the cement tunnel, Martino said. But through a mix of local outreach, public investment and long-held trust in the area’s potential, the area is starting to come alive again.
“If you have the resources to take a lease in that area right now, you’re seeing what the future will be, and also the opportunity,” Martino said.
As the CTA pushed forward with construction, the agency also launched its Open for Business initiative to support small businesses in the area.
“This is something we’ve never done before,” Chase said. “The idea was to give them lasting tools, not just one-time visibility.”
CTA’s Open for Business program included custom photo and video shoots, digital ad campaigns and business features to help promote businesses.
“When we looked at the RPM project footprint, we counted nearly 300 small businesses that would be affected by construction,” Chase said. “Even temporary alley closures could block deliveries or make it harder for people to access a shop or cafe. So we didn’t want to just throw up a couple banners and call it a day.”
The CTA has spent about $200,000 on its Open for Business campaign across the four neighborhoods impacted by the Red and Purple Line Modernization Project. Lakeview saw about $40,000 of that, Chase said.
Despite those efforts, Martino said the working relationship with the chamber and CTA is still a work in progress.
“There’s very little consideration for accessibility during these phases, because for them, it’s just about getting the job done,” Martino said. “It would’ve been nice to get more financial help or grants from the CTA, but it just didn’t seem to be in their billion-dollar budget.”
Federal law prohibits the CTA from distributing money directly to individual businesses or chambers through this program, Chase said.
“We’ve done a lot in Lakeview, but we’re always looking for ways to improve and deepen support,” Chase said.
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