A dream future home of the Chicago Bears in South Shore/South Chicago?

 

ChicagoBears.com

Allow me to wade into the discussion over a potential new stadium for the Chicago Bears.

To be honest, I was rather hoping that Arlington Int'l Race Course would continue to be a venue for horse racing. I also recognize that perhaps that's not the future as the economics of horse racing has changed to the point where there is a question as far as whether or not they can compete with casinos in Illinois.

That said we knew for a while there was a possibility that Arlington will close in the future and perhaps one day demolished. One day the Bears might consider going up there to build a brand new football field. It would be very unreal since I've only known them to play at Soldier Field, they also formerly played at this baseball stadium up north that's named for a brand of chewing gum.

Either way in the off chance that someone with the Bears or anyone at the City of Chicago reads this (don't matter if they work for an alderman or the mayor) I would like to propose the old South Works on 87th and Lakefront. Its land waiting for a use with many proposals over the years to be developed.

City business plan competition extended to July

For those of you with business plans and hopefully seek the opportunity to win some cash money in the process. The deadline has been extended to July 6, 2012 at 4:30 PM:

Do you have a great business idea? The City wants to hear it.

The Chicago City Treasurer’s Office is proud to announce the launch of the annual Business Plan Competition. The competition is open to start-up and existing small businesses throughout the city.

To compete for a chance to win cash for your small business, submit your two-page executive summary (official executive summary template can be found at www.jvschicago.org/duman) detailing your business and what makes it unique. Ten finalists will then be selected to submit a full business plan. Three winners will be selected based on their ability to clearly and concisely articulate their business idea, the creativity and practicability of their marketing and sales strategy, and the overall viability of their business.

The winners will be announced on October 5 at the Chicago City Treasurer’s Small Business Expo – 725 W. Roosevelt Road - 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. In addition, the winners will present their winning business plans at the Expo.

On June 27th there will be a business plan workshop at the Chatham Business Association located at 806 E. 78th Street from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

How about this for a way to attract visitors?

Great for public safety

I saw some of these signs on Facebook, and was thinking...what if we put up signs like these along 79th street and other areas? Would they attract good business?

They would have the novelty of the Cows, but be far less expensive and much simpler to put up.

 A quick Internet search showed that artist Jeff Shell has done these all over Manhattan.

What do you think? Love 'em? Or hate 'em?

On Bourbon Street in New Orleans

Whole Foods Teases the West Loop

What does the West Loop have to do with the 6th Ward. Well I see an opportunity for us on the south side with this. Especially as Asiaha Butler was on TV months ago talking about getting a Whole Foods Market in Englewood. That in addition to potentially filling up some of the empty storefronts on 79th Street for example. It could be a start.

The Chicago Architecture Blog:

While new choices are always welcome, it would have been nice if Whole Foods had opened inside one of the hundreds of empty storefronts nearby instead of squatting in a lobby.  But hopefully, WF is testing the waters to see if some expansion is warranted in the area.  The nearest full store is at 1101 South Canal Street, about a mile and a half away, and not reachable from the West Loop by public transportation.

No full service store necessary just use up a storefront to determine whether or not some expansion in this part of the city is warranted. Think about it!

And perhaps to fill up that storefront near 95th & King Drive where Quench: Fresh Family Foods closed up shop not long after having ABC 7 come out for their store opening.

PREVIOUS POSTS

• Calumet Heights wants a Whole Foods
• A follow-up on Whole Foods
• Whole Foods says we're not educated enough for them???

Dave Matthews Band Concert -- missed opportunitites

Did our community miss the opportunity to cash in on the Dave Matthews Band concert just east of us?

Greater CHatham Alliance is selling concessions and getting some small revenue from the concert.  But other than that, have we taken advantage of what could have been an opportunity?

ChicagoNow has a list of transportation options to the concert.  I-94 is completely ignored, and a shuttle bus is noted for the 87th street stop.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people, from several different states, will converge on this site. We could have marketed our community as a place to stop & shop & eat.

But I wonder if anyone will even notice?

Retail at CTA Red Line L stations....

During the recent run off campaign now Alderman-elect Roderick Sawyer had talked about one plan for economic development. To turn or L stops into economic hubs where you could at the very least buy a newspaper or a cup of coffee before you board the Red Line.

Although we see a recent column about the CTA revamping their policy for retail leases at stations throughout the system, Sawyer surely wasn't merely stopping at having retail at L station houses:

The CTA last year began an experiment at eight rail stations, including those at both Chicago airports, by installing vending machines that sell popular national magazines such as Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly. Under the contract with The Classic Group, the CTA is guaranteed $500 per month per machine.

The CTA's new leasing partnership with Jones Lang LaSalle is aimed at completing transactions with new vendors quickly. It is the result of an ordinance the CTA board approved in March allowing retail and concession space on transit agency property to be marketed for lease on the open market through direct brokerage, a break from previous practices in which the CTA conducted a lengthy requests-for-proposal process for available spaces.

"We can market these properties, create competition and solicit bids directly from prospective tenants,'' said Kurt Little, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, which has been the CTA's real estate services provider since 2008.

Does anyone have any graphic design experience?

From filmmaker Jamal Cole via e-mail:

LOCAL GRAPHIC DESIGNER NEEDED FOR ‘CHATHAM: THE PRIDE OF CHICAGO’

A talented local graphic designer is sought to participate in an exciting documentary featuring Chatham’s rich history. Local resident, author, and speaker Jahmal Cole is currently seeking the talents of a local graphic artist to produce the cover design for the groundbreaking release of Chatham: The Pride of Chicago.

“I’m particularly interested in local talent for this project—someone who is not only talented, but who also has a personal understanding of Chatham’s rich history. This individual should be able to produce an appealing cover for the documentary that arouses enthusiasm and reflects the past, present, and future attitudes, culture, people and places in our community,” explained Cole.

Chatham: The Pride of Chicago is being developed by Jahmal Cole and Role Model Movement to recognize the instrumental role Chatham has played in Chicago’s culture. This feature film and the correlating book will document and preserve Chatham’s rich history and culture. It is hoped to create attention and awareness toward returning community pride and dignity to our neighborhood.

Residents of Chatham who have the talents and skills to make a powerful and positive contribution to these projects are encouraged to apply. Contact Jahmal Cole at:

Jahmal Cole
Author/Speaker
Role Model Movement
http://www.rolemodelmovement.com

P.O. Box 6132
Chicago, IL 60606
(312)882-5028 Direct
(877)592-1066 Fax

"Role Models can be found anywhere. As long as you keep an eye open for them."

Back to that building near 79th & State

Pic taken in either September or October 2009

I see that vacant and boarded up building near the corner of 79th & State off the Dan Ryan. Especially riding the L on a clear sunny day heading South.

An idea to revitalize this building recently hit me! This could be one way to identify the Chatham community for the many who either ride the Dan Ryan L or drive on the Dan Ryan especially if they come South. Besides if they're heading north it's unlikely that they'll notice that building in their rearview mirrors.

I see looking around downtown Chicago that many old buildings have been revitalized. Even old facades have been restored to what they used to look like when they were new a hundred or so years ago. However, the insides of these buildings were built brand new in recent years.

One day it hit me that like some of those old buildings downtown, there ought to be a restaurant in that old building. And the vacant lot right on the corner of 79th & State could be used as an outdoor cafe of some sort with even a well landscaped garden with flowers.

Over at the CAPCC blog they discuss using this vacant lot as a specialty hot dog stand. Surely an idea like that could be incorporated into the site.

What other uses would you like to see this building restored to?

CAPCC blog with more ideas

Well let them do the talking:

How about putting up some specialty food stores that have a dedicated Internet cafe serving gourmet coffee up and down 79Th Street in Chatham to go along with the comedy clubs?

It seems like they're on the right track right now. There is a need for revitalization on 75th Street. I mean serious revitalization.

Comedy clubs, specialty food stores or internet cafes couldn't hurt.

Of course if we were to have specialty food stores what could be sold there that might interest anyone in the community? What could be sold there that might interest anyone outside the community? What could be offered that can have anyone spend money in the community? Can the community benefit from this?

BTW, if we're talking internet cafes, what about the Starbuck's? They're not an internet cafe, but they can operate a WiFi network of course that means that people will have to bring their own laptops than are WiFi capable.

Perhaps there is a need for a post discussing revitalization of 79th Street in the near future.

You can also read this post on comedy clubs.

It would be nice if...

There was either a FedEx or UPS store in the community so that if either company wasn't able to deliver a package to your door after several attempts you wouldn't have to either leave the neighborhood or even leave the city to get a package. Especially after UPS recently closed their facility @ 8133 S. Dobson. It would be real nice, real nice indeed. :P

Yup I'm copying off of the CAPCC blog. Hey we should play with some ideas too. As we have been doing.

A follow-up on Whole Foods

To the post regarding Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward) talking to Whole Foods Market about coming to the Chatham Market shopping center to be one of the anchors in addition to Lowe's. Of course that other anchor is expected to be Wal-Mart since at this time they're the only ones who are willing to move in and build a store. But we all know that Wal-Mart is having a roadblock moment with it being bottled up in the city council's committee on finance.

Here was the question I asked Whole Foods. I'll be honest here when I say that I really danced around before I finally asked the question:

I write for a blog called The Sixth Ward emanating out of the south side of Chicago. I wrote a post about a recent community meeting to discuss a Wal-Mart store that has been bottled up on city council committee on 83rd and Stewart. At that meeting Whole Foods Market was mentioned as an anchor store at the 83rd & Stewart shopping center, but it was said the company turned down looking at that location due to the area not being educated enough. That is not enough advanced degrees and not enough data to indicate that the area would know the benefits of buying organic foods. The question is how does Whole Foods arrive at making a decision of where to place a store? Do you look at educational attainment? Are there any other factors? BTW, you should know that I have already places a store request for the area codes of 60620 and 60619. I look forward to your response and thank you in advance for your time.

In any event I would have expected days to go by or even weeks, but I have to hand it to Whole Foods they answered today!

Hello Levois,

Thank you for your email. One of the things we look for when finding new locations is a large number of college educated residents. That is, however, one small part of the overall equation. For more specific information, please visit the real estate section of our website. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/realestate.php

We hope this information is helpful. If you have any further questions please use our on-line response form.

Best regards,

Jessie

You should refer to that real estate site to see what it may take for them to consider taking up shop in any community. In any case they do look at education according to them it's only a small part of what they look for in a new location for their stores.

Finally I want to refer to Worlee's comment in that Whole Foods post:

Yes I believe he has approached a number of companies and they have said no. But I believe that some would come with some aggresive grassroots marketing( i.e. neighborhood video, CBO brochures, etc).

I don't believe that Whole Foods and Costco were that unwilling to entertain a store in our community because the facts speak for themselves. Home Depot on 87th is in the top 10% based on revenue. Chatham 14 is the number 2 movie theater, Target on Cottage is a top 10% revenue store. Also, as far as Costco our neighborhood demographics are not that much different than Bedford Park and Niles.

In all fairness to Whole Foods I believe they did pass not because of demographics but because they have supporters in Hyde Park who are aggressively lobbying for them to come. Also, the large number of fast food stores (5 McDonalds in a 5 mile radius, 2 Burger Kings, 2 White castles, etc.).

OK, it took some prodding to get Target to open a store on 87th and Cottage Grove. They weren't convinced that there was any money to be made here. Of course before Target opened there was already a Home Depot, Toys R Us, and a Jewel to name a few large stores already here before Fall 2002.

As for grassroots marketing, I suppose Worlee is right. Perhaps Chatham should do what it can to at least find another grocery store to compete with that Jewel. Brookins said himself that he doesn't like that Jewel on 87th and I never entirely got the reasoning other than I suppose poor customer service or poor management. Either way the beauty of capitalism is competition there should be other players in this market. Jewel, Food 4 Less, Pete's Produce, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Chatham Food Market, or even Aldi's.

Anyway the idea of grassroots marketing is one reason I started this blog going on two years ago. Although I feel as if this blog is a long way from a marketing tool we can certainly bring attention to an area that is predominantly black and middle-class.

As for Whole Foods the main thing we can do as a community is to request another store to come to this area. And why not, they may not be another anchor at Chatham Market but we can have another chain come down and introduce our area to organic products. That's why I suggested that we find a way to get into contact with Whole Foods to let them know (and we could reach across to the 21st Ward) that we would like a Whole Foods here. It couldn't hurt!

PS - Still working on that post regarding Saturday's Wal-Mart townhall meeting.

Remember CAPCC blog talking about the site of the Rhodes Theater

I revisited this the site of this old theater last week and snapped some newer pictures.

First off at the CAPCC blog back in August there was a post that indicated what should be here on this site. What they wanted was a health club and they already picked out the type of health club they wanted to attract.

Since I found out that Chatham was home to a movie palace like the Rhodes, there have been several posts on that topic. In at least one of those posts may have indicated that I wouldn't have minded a replica of this building on this site. While it may not bother me, let's just attribute that to a lack of creativity. Sometimes being especially creative is good.

Now I may have turned on this issue. Perhaps a new movie house shouldn't be constructed on this site. Well especially since there are others buildings that could be used for that purpose in our community.

The idea hit me on those many trips I may make downtown or even the north side. In this case I can revisit the issue of bringing a health club to 79th Street. Now I don't know if CAPCC is fully behind this effort beyond some comments written on a blog. But it may be a worthwhile effort even if there is already a health club near 87th and Dan Ryan (Bally's at Chatham Ridge).

I would justify it this way. If there is a "food desert" in this community where people in general don't eat well. Eating well being that people may largely eat fast food or otherwise may not have access to fresh produce in the forms of either fruit or vegetables. In that case perhaps a health club could address that issue, especially in education people in what to eat in addition to providing a venue for regular exercise.

Another justification might be a means to attract younger people to this community. Especially young urban professionals who may well be very inclined to either eat right or engage in some physical activity to take care of their bodies.

What I would imagine for a health club might be similar to what I saw downtown which is that in the basement there was a swimming pool. Of course I'm sure (well since I'm generally unfamiliar with what is found in a typical health club) that you may find workout rooms or weight-training rooms. For that property perhaps a basketball court is a little much and it's likely that this building won't be very tall. In which case space could be at a premium.

Well this is only an idea a health club that contains a swimming pool, a workout room and a weight-training room. Perhaps this is an idea that's worth some consideration. Hopefully this vacant lot that still littered with trash along the edges in October (as they were in September) can one day be utilized for such a purpose.

CTA sets vendor workshops for minority- and female-owned businesses

Tribune:

The Chicago Transit Authority is launching a new effort to give companies owned by women or minorities a better chance of doing business with the agency.

Contractors and vendors are sometimes shut out from competing for millions of dollars in CTA contracts -- not always because they cannot do the work, but rather they lack the proper bonding or insurance, among other reasons, officials said.

The CTA will hold monthly workshops, beginning Sept. 30 and running through May, to help vendors understand the procurement process and become certified to do business with the agency.

Also, participants at the sessions will learn what projects are out for bid and get a forecast of future projects that will be put up for bid.

Minority- or female-owned small businesses will be able to apply for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise status to improve their chances of being selected, officials said.

A Starbuck's in Chatham???

I don't know how many of you agree with the blogger at the CAPCC blog, but could a Starbuck's be an addition to 79th Street? I don't think it would be a bad addition, but let's also bear in mind that there is a perception that Starbuck's signals gentrification and there would be concern about that.

I also want to note that there is already a Starbuck's across the expressay on 87th in the Chatham Ridge Shopping Center that contains a Harold's Chicken Shack, Food 4 Less, Home Depot, & ICE Chatham 14 Theaters. This is just right across the street from the shopping center that contains a Jewel and Best Buy.

Oh yeah the CAPCC blog would like to see a Starbuck's located at the SW corner of 79th and St. Lawrence. Here's the scene from that corner. There is currently nothing there now!

View Larger Map

Business opporunity -- building available, but needs renovation

Saw these signs at 356 E. 79th and  210 E. 79th.

The storefront could be an opportunity. The owner of the building, who doesn't owe a mortgage on the property, is offering use of it if the business in exchange for that business to renovate it, and share the profits.

If anyone is interested, contact Billy White at 773-875-9258...let us know how it works for you...what the business is, when it will be up, etc. See below for old photos of the properties from the Cook County Assesor's office