Wednesday, March 12, 2014

DNA Info: South Shore Residents Demand Action on Last Unclaimed Dominick's

2101 E 71st St via DNA Info

So now this former Dominick's located in South Shore near the shopping center at 71st/Jeffrey still remains without a tenant the only former location without a tenant in the city and the nearby residents are concerned. Many of the other former Dominick's locations are soon to be Mariano's, Whole Foods Market, or Jewel - besides it was in the news that Jewel will acquire more former Dominick's locations.
Residents of South Shore are still wondering what will replace the shuttered Dominick's in Jeffery Plaza, the chain's only remaining location yet to be sold in the city.

And one member of the mayor's hand-picked task force charged with tackling the problem said Saturday community members should not wait around for an answer.

The Rev. Jeanette Wilson, of Rainbow PUSH, called her appointment to the task force a "paper title" and said the group has met twice since it was formed in December.

Wilson spoke Saturday afternoon during a meeting hosted by the Planning Coalition at the South Shore Cultural Center.

The South Shore Dominick's is the last unclaimed store in the city, one of 15 that closed its doors last December after the chain announced it was leaving the area.

Last week, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) told South Shore residents seven grocers had declined to buy the store. Hairston, whose ward includes Jeffery Plaza, cited four reasons the site has been slow to sell: amount of investment needed to improve the store, surrounding competition, community demographics and store profitability.

City officials have said any buyer will have to invest about $6 million to update the 65,000-square-foot store, and Dominick's' parent company Safeway has the space leased through May 2015.
So, if you have a potential idea for who should come, well this site has plenty of rejections already: "City officials have reached out to Whole Foods, Treasure Island, Ultra and Mariano's among other chains, and all have declined to lease the location."

Let's not get entirely cared away, there is already a Jewel store located at 75th & Stony Island. On the other hand as stated in this article "retail attracts retail". Hopefully the former grocery store can attract a chain to this former Dominick's store. What would you like to see take up this space.

Hat-tip Curbed Chicago!

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