Grocery store drops out of Lincoln Park Hospital redevelopment project

Ald. Smith not buying store’s explanation for leaving Lincoln Park Hospital redevelopment

12/15/2011 1:51 PM

By IAN FULLERTON
Contributing Reporter

10 Comments - Add Your Comment

Updated 12/21/2011 6:00 p.m.

Developers for the Webster Square project say their anchor tenant split from the redevelopment over a design issue, but Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) isn’t buying it.

In a statement sent out Dec. 15, Sandz Development Co., the firm overseeing the redevelopment of the controversial Lincoln Park Hospital site, announced that the boutique grocer Fresh Market had formally pulled backed out of its agreement to serve as the main retail tenant for the project.

Sandz said the decision came in light of changes to the planned development for the three-acre Lincoln Park Hospital site, located at the corner of Larrabee Street at Webster and Lincoln avenues in Lincoln Park.

Designs for the project, which were approved by the city’s plan commission in September, envision a redevelopment which would include condos, rental apartments, a medical office building and 20,000 square feet of retail space in an abutting parking garage structure to be built on the campus of the former hospital, which has been vacant since 2008.

According to the release, Fresh Market opted out of the project because the company was not happy with revised requirements laid out in the new plan, which relocated the retail space’s main loading area from Webster Avenue to the much busier Lincoln Avenue.

Sandz Principal Richard Zisook said he was “extremely disappointed” with the loss of Fresh Market, but stated in a letter to residents that his company was “moving forward with efforts to secure a new tenant or tenants for the space as soon as possible.”

Sandz did not respond to emailed questions for this story, and a spokesperson for Fresh Market declined to comment on the company’s departure from the project.

The new loading scheme came as part of an agreement brokered by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) that aimed to win favor for the project from a vocal faction of Lincoln Park neighbors who had rallied against the grocery store component since plans for the hospital redevelopment were introduced over two years ago.

The revised planned development also replaced a 40-unit condominium building on Grant Place with eight townhome properties and added 75 rental apartments in lieu of office space in an existing Geneva Terrace building.

In addition to getting the go-ahead from city council, the agreement squashed a lawsuit led by residents and former Ald. Marty Oberman which charged that the Webster Square designs violated community planning guidelines in Lincoln Park.

Smith, who took office in the North Side ward just days after the original proposal for the redevelopment was approved in May, told Skyline that Fresh Market’s distaste for the revised plan was certainly news to her.

“Throughout the whole negotiating process, we were told that things were fine with them,” she said. “If that had been the real issue, I would have expected to have gotten a call.”

The alderman said that she hadn’t heard from Sandz or Fresh Market since the plan was approved, and questioned whether the new loading dock was really what sent the grocer packing.

“Our residents are smart enough to figure out that, whatever happened, it had nothing to do with our zoning provision,” she said.

Smith said that the burden was now on Sandz to make the Webster Square redevelopment work.

“It’s up to the developer to find a tenant — he claimed throughout the process that he had one,” she said. “It was an important one, that he was staking the entire development on.”

The project is one of two high-profile hospital makeovers in the works in Lincoln Park. Plans are currently taking shape for the redevelopment of the Children’s Memorial Hospital campus, located two blocks northwest of the Lincoln Park Hospital site and slated to be vacated next summer.

Construction on the garage building is currently underway, and Zisook said that the rehabilitation of the main hospital building is expected to begin by the end of the year. Sandz plans to open a sales center for the condominium building in the spring of 2012.


10 Comments - Add Your Comment



By Anna from Lincoln Park
Posted: 01/23/2012 6:07 PM

100% of nothing is still nothing. I wish the best to Sandz Development because in this case, a 100% of something might be worth alot more when all is complete. Maybe all the people complaining and stopping production can just say THANK YOU. Michelle Smith, answer your phone!


By Allan M
Posted: 12/22/2011 0:37 AM

For accuracy, the Webster loading would be off street in a loading dock that was modified to accommodate the bigger trucks.


By Allan M
Posted: 12/22/2011 0:37 AM

For accuracy, the Webster loading would be off street in a loading dock that was modified to accommodate the bigger trucks.


By ChicagoPJS from Lincoln Park
Posted: 12/20/2011 10:11 AM

Just to reiterate, enjoy your empty building for the next 5 years.


By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 12/19/2011 6:51 PM

Lincoln Park proper already has a Market Place food store, Carnival Foods, Big Apple Finer Foods, Lincoln Park Market, 2 Dominick's, 2 ALDIs, Trader Joe's and 2 Treasure Islands. That makes for at least 11 full service grocery stores in Lincoln Park, leaving me to wonder why the area would possibly need another grocery store, especially considering there are 2 Walgreens and a CVS, which also sell food along with many convenience stores. The Fresh Market was not needed.


By nitram242 from west side
Posted: 12/18/2011 12:15 PM

Lincoln Park


By Sam from Near West Side
Posted: 12/16/2011 11:06 AM

Despite that fact the south and west sides of the city plus the surrounding suburbs need grocery stores, Fresh Market wasted four years trying to put one store in Lincoln Park. Thats ok now. Walmat, Target, Maraino's/Roundy's, Pete's Fresh Market, Mejier, Aldi/Trader Joe's, Food 4 Less, Whole Foods, Walgreens, and CVS Trader Joe's are filling the gaps. These stores will have grand openings from 2012-2015.


By ChicagoPJS from Lincoln Park
Posted: 12/16/2011 10:36 AM

@KarmaPolice - great work on your handle and your comment. Totally agree with both. @Boyee - Enjoy that abandoned building for the next 5 years.


By KarmaPolice from Steeterville
Posted: 12/16/2011 6:42 AM

"Sandz Principal Richard Zisook said he was “extremely disappointed” with the loss of Fresh Market, but stated in a letter to residents that his company was “moving forward with efforts to secure a new tenant or tenants for the space as soon as possible.” Maybe a cognitive therapy clinic for the residences who thought that it was a bad idea to have a Fresh Market. The ignorance and short-sightedness of the opposition is simply breathtaking.


By Boyee from Mid-North in Lincoln Park
Posted: 12/15/2011 11:12 PM

While I am glad the grocery store left, I'm left what will they do with the space. I hope it is converted back into a parking garage!