Sounds like good news! This will be in close proximity to the Target on Clark Street.
From Crains Chicago Business
Roundy’s looks to open Mariano's on Near South Side
(Crain’s) — Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., the Milwaukee-based grocery chain, is pushing south of downtown for the first time as it looks to increase its Chicago presence.
The city’s Community Development Commission on Tuesday is to consider a plan for a 65,000-square-foot Mariano’s Fresh Market store on the Near South Side.
Out-of-state developers want to build the store on a vacant, city-owned 2.4-acre property at 1625 S. Clark St., according to a report prepared for the commission. The developers, West Hartford, Conn.-based Simon Konover Co. and Franklin, Wis.-based Outlook Group LLC, would buy the site, which has been vacant since 1999, for almost $3.5 million, or about $33 per square foot, the report says.
South Siders and city leaders have long complained that grocery-store chains have avoided many South Side neighborhoods, referring to the areas as food deserts. Yet the Mariano’s would open near a supermarket oasis, competing with Dominick’s, Jewel-Osco and Whole Foods stores less than 1½ miles to the north along Roosevelt Road in the South Loop.
“All the action is up on Roosevelt,” says Gregory Kirsch, a principal in the Chicago office of Newmark Knight Frank who specializes in retail but is not involved in the Mariano’s development. “This is about a mile away from three other grocery stores. Is that needed? If the goal is to serve a food desert, this location does not alleviate food deserts.”
Roundy’s already has four Mariano’s stores open in the Chicago area: one downtown and one on the city’s North Side, as well as locations in Arlington Heights and Vernon Hills. A fifth store is scheduled to open soon at a supermarket in Palatine.
The company was part of another development proposal for the Clark Street site in 2004. But that plan included a city subsidy and was rejected by city officials, according to the report.
The current proposal does not seek money from the city. The development would include a three-story building, with the top two levels providing parking for 290 vehicles, and a 50-spot surface lot. The developers already have a long-term lease agreement with Roundy’s for the site.
Including land acquisition, the development would cost about $22.7 million, the report says.
Executives at Simon Konover and Outlook Development did not return calls. A Roundy’s spokeswoman declines to comment.
Mr. Kirsch says the proposed Mariano’s could pull customers from nearby condominiums and underserved neighborhoods to the south such as Chinatown and Bridgeport. South of the Stevenson Expressway is particularly underserved for grocery shoppers, Mr. Kirsch says.
But 16th and 17th streets, along the north and south sides of the proposed Mariano’s site, do not connect with Lake Shore Drive to the east, where many of those condos are, and the $33-per-square-foot purchase price is only slightly below market value, Mr. Kirsch says.
“This location is a ’tweener,” Mr. Kirsch says. “It doesn’t have great east-west transportation. The immediate market to the east is constrained by accessibility issues.”
The project would create about 250 temporary construction jobs and 200 permanent in-store jobs, the report says. Alderman Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) supports the development, according to the report.
Simon Konover owns and manages 95 properties with a total value of $860 million, according to the CDC report. Outlook Development Group owns and manages 30 properties worth more than $150 million, and it already owns five Roundy’s stores, the report says.
Read more:
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20120110/CRED03/120119972/roundy-s-looks-to-open-marianos-on-near-south-side#ixzz1j5Tf4DPM
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