Sun-Times: Hairston demands Emanuel do more to replace shuttered Dominick's

71st & Jeffrey by Eric Allix Rogers/flickr

It's really unbelievable that the former Dominick's in South Shore still hasn't found another tenant. The space is located at the shopping center on 71st/Jeffrey.

While the Mariano's chain is coming close with a store coming to Bronzeville and another coming to the Lakeshore development on 87th Street they're not interested in the former Dominick's space. Could this become a campaign issue for Mayor Emanuel at least for constituents in South Shore?

 Although one positive development yesterday in addition to voting to raise the minimum wage in Chicago, the city council also voted to acquire the 71st Street Dominick's space. That still didn't serve to appease 5th ward Ald. Leslie Hairston:

South Side Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said she wants Mayor Rahm Emanuel to summon the CEOs of major grocery chains to a meeting and demand that somebody — anybody — fill the gaping hole at 71st and Jeffrey Boulevard that Dominick’s left nearly a year ago.

“It’s very difficult for the mayor to say he’s doing enough when he’s announcing grocery stores all over everywhere except in the place that needs it the most,” Hairston said.

“He knows people. He could do more. I need him to do more. It will be a year in a few days. It is a black mark on him. Absolutely. It says that he doesn’t care. I want him to use the power that he has as mayor of the City of Chicago to spur economic development in South Shore, just as he’s done in the South Loop. Whatever he has done in all of those other situations, I expect the same here.”

Hairston was asked whether the vacant store two blocks from her home would cost Emanuel votes in the Feb. 24 election.

“Well, he’s already lost support because it has remained vacant. He’s got to earn that support back,” she said.

There is one update on a future Mariano's in South Shore according to this article: "On Wednesday, Hairston said she’s heard from Mariano and he’s ready to talk about other sites — but not at Jeffrey Plaza."

So we should open up the floor here. If a Mariano's were to come closer to our part of town where would you like to see it?

WBEZ: Why does South Shore still not have a grocery store?

71st & Jeffrey by Eric Allix Rogers/flickr

[AUDIO] While it seems Mariano's is interested in moving to South Shore in the near future, we still have a storefront that one housed a major grocery store that remains vacant. Mariano's snatched many former Dominick's locations throughout the Chicago area so far seems unwilling to snatch up the former Dominick's space at 71st & Jeffrey.


WBEZ presents this write-up and the audio which is embedded below

Here's an excerpt of the write-up

South Shore organizers are taking steps to make sure that happens. They’ve hosted several community meetings, circulated a survey and met with city officials. In some ways their fight for a grocery store is part of a larger struggle playing out across the city. The intersection of race and retail often leaves African-American consumers short on access to goods and services. Even basic ones like where to shop for dinner.

This is especially true on the South Side where many neighborhoods, regardless of income, are food deserts. Juxtapose this with some areas on the North Side awash in grocery stores. Recently, residents of Wicker Park rejected a new Trader Joe’s due to traffic concerns.

Over the past decade, more grocery stores have opened in Chicago overall. But many on the South and West Sides feel left out when their only nearby food options are discount chains.

“On the South Side of Chicago in general, we experience retail redlining. There’s a certain kind of marketing. When we talk about institutional racism, it’s the dismissal of communities that have income and that expendable income,” [South Shore resident Anton Seals] said.

South Shore is a dense, truly mixed-income neighborhood. Mansions and multi-unit apartment complexes share alleys. The community has a median income of $28,000 but there are thousands of households earning more than $75,000.

Also:

Mari Gallagher is a researcher and expert on food access issues and said South Shore has really been a misunderstood market for a long time.

“There’s a lot of buying power in South Shore. And I know from the research and I know anecdotally people who live in South Shore who go all the way down to Roosevelt Road or Hyde Park to do their shopping. There’s a lot of leakage, money leaving these neighborhoods,” Gallagher said.

She said black Chicago has long struggled to nab quality retail. Billions of dollars leave the community each year and are spent in other neighborhoods.

“And it’s not necessarily because they can’t support it as a consumer base and certainly people do eat as part of the human condition,” Gallagher said.

Target Market News is a consumer research group that tracks black spending and found that black households traditionally outspend whites and Latinos on fruits and vegetables and items that have to be cooked to be eaten. In the Chicago area they spend approximately $240 million on fresh produce annually.

“So why do certain neighborhoods have quality grocery stores and other neighborhoods have none or just very very few, perhaps one?” Gallagher said, adding that changes in the grocery industry perpetuate this gap.

Lots of questions but so far no solid answers. All we know about Mariano's is that their CEO Bob Mariano doesn't like the 71st & Jeffrey location. And perhaps there are some issues with the owner of this property who reportedly lives in Los Angeles or with the property itself. Beyond that why is no other grocer interested in this location?

 We've had people share their thoughts on this subject I hope someone out there has something new to report or opine.

Sun-Times: Hairston, Mariano's CEO tour ward for grocery store sites

So Mariano's CEO Bob Mariano gets his tour of South Shore checking out sites for a potential future store in the community. One day we won't have that far to go for a Mariano's:

Hairston took Roundy's CEO Bob Mariano on a two-hour tour of seven prospective construction sites in her ward, and Mariano promised to get back to the city’s Department of Planning and Development with a decision in a few days.

The shuttered and still vacant Dominick’s store at 71st Street and Jeffrey Boulevard remains Chicago’s only shuttered Dominick’s that has yet to find a replacement grocer.

It still hasn't. Mariano and Hairston toured that shuttered store on Monday, along with Planning and Development Commissioner Andy Mooney and a real estate consultant hired by the city. But Mariano, who once worked there, rejected it.

Other sites, however, have not been ruled out. In a press release issued after the tour, Hairston noted that she initially had four sites in mind, but expanded the list to seven to “increase the odds” of enticing Mariano. The most attractive sites are located on Stony Island Avenue.

“We looked at property that is owned by the city and privately owned. What was interesting is to find out that Mariano wants 60,000 square feet for his stores. We also talked about the importance of egress and ingress to site locations,” Hairston was quoted as saying.

“If he decides on a site that is owned by the city, the project could move faster than one that is privately owned. Sears owns the site from 77th to 79th and Stony Island. The city owns both the 6800 and 6900 blocks.”

The 5th Ward tour also included a site at 60th and Stony Island.

So am I reading this right, she wants Mariano's to look at the old Sears store site near 79th & Stony Island?

Either way this is another entry in the story where the Dominick's store at 71st St. & Jeffrey Blvd. still hasn't found another grocer to set up shop. Earlier Bob Mariano's noted he didn't think this site can fit his standards and even cited the Metra Electic tracks that run on 71st Street.

Editorial: Why won't a grocer set up shop in South Shore?

We've been all over the story with the empty Dominick's store in South Shore on 71st & Jeffrey. Now the alderman over that location 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston writes an op-ed highlighting her struggle to get decent retail in her community. This is something worth reading because in some way it affects everyone living in a predominantly Black community. She is right about one thing: "Our money is green like everyone else's."

BTW, do you think when major retailers do open in our communities are they doing us a "favor"?

DNA Info: South Shore Mariano's Possible, But Ex-Dominick's Site No Good, CEO Says

Vacant 71st/Jeffrey space by Eric Allix Rogers/flickr

Even though just last week Mariano's announced their going to build on land that was once home to a large steel mill on east 87th, it seems the question of the former Dominick's space near 71st/Jeffrey refuses to go away. Mariano's CEO Bob Mariano passed on the space but will still tour city owned lots in South Shore with 5th Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston to find an appropriate spot for another Mariano's store. In the meanwhile Mr. Mariano's justification:

“It’s the location,” Mariano said about passing on the former Dominick’s at Jeffery Plaza, 7131 S. Jeffery Blvd. “It’s not the neighborhood.”

Mariano made his remarks last week, just before announcing plans to open a new Mariano’s location in South Chicago.

He also said he thinks the parking lot is the wrong size for the 65,000-square-foot store, he believes the entrances and exits to the parking lot don’t serve the store well and he did not like that the Metra tracks passed in front of the store on 71st Street.

“We’re not going to bring a store to the neighborhood that is below the standards of Mariano’s,” Mariano said.

On top of this Ald. Hairston added:

On Tuesday, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said she was aware of Mariano’s objections to the former Dominick’s location.

“Do I think Jeffery Plaza could be updated? Absolutely,” Hairston said. “But you’re not going to get rid of the trains.”

She said the city is still actively negotiating with several grocers to the move into the Dominick’s, which closed Dec. 28. She said she is also still courting Mariano’s to move to South Shore.

So where could they bring another Mariano's on this part of town? I could compare this to the two Walmarts located nearby us one on 83rd and another on 111th. While the one on 111th had been approved first the one on 83rd was completed sooner because the site was already set up for a store to be built. The site near 111th well they had some work to do before all was said and done.

This would be the case for Mariano's on the former steel mill site. Could they possibly find a site within South Shore which is ready made for a store much sooner that the store coming in 2016?

DNA Info: Mariano's South Shore? Alderman Taking Grocery Store Boss on Tour

Bob Mariano w/ Mayor Emanuel - DNAinfo/Ted Cox

What figures in this story is the fact that while the Mariano's grocery chain has expanded aggressively in the Chicagoland area and has taken over many former Dominick's locations they also haven't moved into the spot at 71st & Jeffrey that used to be a Dominick's. Now Bob Mariano - who is the CEO of the company that owns the Mariano's chain - is taking a look at South Shore:

Bob Mariano said Monday he'd be touring the South Shore area in the coming weeks to explore whether it "makes any sense" to place a new Mariano's outlet there.

Mariano, chief executive officer of the Roundy's supermarket chain and head of the Mariano's stores in the Chicago area, made the comment after addressing the City Club of Chicago in a lunch speech Monday.
...
"We're scheduling a meeting with Ald. Hairston to drive her ward in the near future, so that's being worked on right now," Mariano said. "We'll listen to what she's got and we'll see if it makes any sense.

"We've got to go into the neighborhood, drive the neighborhood together and see her vision and her ideas and see if they fit with ours," he added.

Hairston's office confirmed a tour of the 5th Ward is being planned with a date to be determined.

Mariano, however, would not comment on news reports that have Mariano's showing an interest in the former U.S. Steel factory on the South Side, saying only, "We'll have something to say about that in the future."

Mariano stressed the notion of "community" in his remarks to the City Club.

"For us, it's about one thing — community," he said. "We stress in each one of our stores, we are a community."

He said the chain emphasizes "the groundedness into the neighborhood, into the community," adding, "Your store is your community."

If he's not at all interested in the 71st/Jeffrey space, perhaps he'd be interested in the former Sears store @ 1134 E. 79th St. and I'm sure there are other locations on the south side where he could place a store.

I hope that there is press on this tour, that would be some good coverage.

DNA Info: South side Dominick's site owner claims he's not blocking new tenants

71st/Jeffrey Dominick's by Eric Allix Rogers/flick

In this recent DNA Info article we finally hear from the owner of the development at 71st/Jeffrey where since last year a space that was once home to a Dominick's store has remained vacant. Many in that part of the city wants to see another grocer set-up shop there however that has taken more time. The Dominick's grocery chain had shut all of their locations down last December.

The owner of Jeffery Plaza said he is trying to replace the shuttered Dominick’s in his mall as quickly as possible and rejected Ald. Leslie Hairston’s (5th) and other city officials' claims that he is blocking tenants from moving in.

“We want to fill up the space as soon as possible at a cost that is justified,” said Shervin Mateen, CEO of Cannon Commercial.

At a Tuesday meeting, Hairston told South Shore residents that Mateen “only cares about his profit,” and was not cooperating with leasing the former grocery store at 71st Street and Jeffery Boulevard.

On Thursday, Mateen, speaking from his office in Los Angeles, said he was “shocked and puzzled” by Hairston’s comments.

Mateen said the company is currently in negotiations with four grocers to take over the space, including Ultra Foods, but first needs to convince Dominick’s to give up or pay out on its lease, which runs through May of 2015.

“No matter what other decisions we want to make, they have to approve it,” Mateen said. “They have the keys to the site.”

Representatives from Cannon said they are working with Dominick’s parent company, Safeway, to give up the space, but the company has been moving slow because it is currently being bought by Albertsons.

A representative of Safeway was not available to comment.

$1 Million : What Would You Do With It

Four Chicago aldermen are holding participatory budgeting meetings for their residents soon. The aldermen are asking their constituents to help budget for community infrastructure projects with $4 million of the $5.2 million (menu money)they control. These are discretionary funds Alderman have to complete projects in their wards.

The wards and aldermen are:

•Leslie Hairston, 5th
•John Arena, 45th
•James Cappleman, 46th
•Joe Moore, 49th

Some of the prices are as follows:

Street Resurfacing $40,000

Street Relighting $100,000

New Fieldhouse $7,000,000-$10,000,000

                                                                  New Playground $12,000

What would you ask for?

For more details:http://gridchicago.com/2012/take-action-46th-ward-residents-have-opportunity-to-directly-influence-expenditure-of-1-3-million-on-infrastructure/

Alderman Hairston,Sawyer, Jackson & Harris- It's Time for a Big Box on the Southeast Side

Now that Alderman Brookins has gotten his wishes for a Walmart that will primarily serve the southwest side and Alderman Beale, Foulkes and Thompson bringing Walmarts to their wards on the far south and far southwest sides, it leaves the southeast side with nothing.

Several years ago there was talk of a Super K-Mart store coming to 77th Stony Island. Several businesses in that area relocated and the land was sold to unnamed developers. Now a sign was erected marketing a 6 acre site that stretches from 77th Stony Island to 78th South Chicago. The site is attractive because it has two major roadways to direct traffic and access to the toll road that could bring in Indiana shoppers. There are several small building adjacent to this site that host relocatable businesses. So we have a site large enough for a big box player to come in. We will have more than enough Walmart's so hopefully the Alderman collectively could reach out to Mejeir or Woodman's who do not have a presence in the city and bring some competition to the market.

The Southeast Alderman need to support this site collectively as it borders on all their wards and could bring much needed jobs to their wards. Also, they are going to have to collectively work together to have the political muscle to convince their fellow city council members and the unions.