Neighborhood developments

Friday, August 3, 2012

: Former hot dog stand, currently vacant. Credit: Jeremy Bressman

: 5411 N Winthrop. Credit: Jeremy Bressman

It appears that work has once again begun at the four-plus-one building at

Tags: Bluewater Project, development, real estate, Starbucks

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Gabi

I think there are already a lot of terrific locally-owned and operated coffee shops in this neighborhood and we don’t need to add a Starbucks! Besides the fact that as a non-franchise the money made at Starbucks doesn’t even stay local to the community … I also dont want to think about what a traffic/parking nightmare that location would be.
- http://twitter.com/observacious Kim Z Dale
  
  Normally my feeling would be the same, but that location needs an occupant and its odd configuration limits its utility. I’m not a huge fan of Starbucks, but I’m less of a fan of urban blight.
http://twitter.com/kitfries Kit Fries

Starbucks w/a drivethru would be sweet.
Todd

Drive thru Starbucks would be great!
- Curtis
  
  From Alderman Osterman’s weekly update – ”
  This location is a new concept, the first to be brought to Chicago and only executed so far in Portland and Denver. The concept utilizes recycled box cars for a drive-thru only location which also includes a walk-up window and spacious outdoor patio for warmer months. Starbucks has requested support for a special use permit for their drive thru. Over the past few months, they have met with the surrounding residents and neighborhood groups to share their proposal and receive feedback. Last week, my office hosted a community meeting including residents within 1,000 ft. radius of the site and representatives from Alderman O’Connor’s office. The neighbors present at the meeting voted unanimously in support of this project. Therefore, I have decided to support this project as well. They are developing on a small lot (12,500 sf. total) which has been under-utilized for a long time. They have agreed to eliminate the curb cut on Devon Avenue and will only use the existing entrance and exit on Broadway. Click here to view the renderings. I have asked them to work with the community on an Edgewater identifier. The one shown here is only a concept, not the final identifier design. ”
  
  A link to the renderings – http://gallery.mailchimp.com/064a4eb35bd70aef6394f83eb/files/Starbucks_Broadway___Devon_Images_1_.pdf
JoeChicago

I agree. That place needs something and because of its small size it won’t really fit many purposes. Starbucks is better than nothing.
- Therese
  
  How about a good local bakery that folks can drive through to pick up fresh hot rolls in the AM and delicious whole-grain breads for dinner on their way home from work? I’d love a bakery that would saturate the community with good smells, healthy foods, and living wage employment.
  - Karen B.
    
    Sure, go ahead and front the capital, heart, and sweat equity for this great business idea. Want a business in that risky location? Be that business. Start that business. You’ve just got a 60% chance of failure over the first 5 years, and probably little to no return on investment. Your goal of paying your employees (who need to be there almost 24hrs/day for and AM/PM bakery) is kind-hearted, but will end up destroying your register.
    
    It’s nice to dream, but important to be realistic.
    
    Otherwise, let the giant multi-national chain bear the risk and fill a slot in the ‘hood that needs to be filled.
    
    P.S. Starbucks employees make closer to a living wage than most restaurant workers. Also, the workers in Chi are unionized.
    - Gabi
      
      Hi Karen:
      
      As someone who has started and maintained a small organization myself, I hear ya, its not easy by any stretch!!
      
      But I still think it’s super important that we don’t shut down possibilities simply because they seem “dreamy”. If we did that we wouldn’t have m.henrietta or metropolis or hello sushi or devon market or uncommon ground or the berger park cafe or park space at all! Do we need realistic assessments of what a location like the one at Devon and Broadway can support? Sure. But I dont think we need to just throw our hands up and let Starbucks fill in where our imaginations fall short.
      
      There are a lot of comments on this post that are about accepting Starbucks because nothing else will work … is that true? I imagine that our alderman and Starbucks have both done a pretty thorough analysis of what could maybe survive there and it would be helpful to know what they found. What if TIF dollars could be used to subsidize some of the risk you describe? What if the space was dedicated to food trucks the way someone on this board described, distributing the risk across a bunch of businesses? What if it was a mixed use space that is not wholly commercial?
      
      I think the important thing is that we throw our ideas out there, wild ones and practical ones, and open them all up for discussion, including the possibility that Starbucks is what people want in the end.
      
      gabi
      - Karen B.
        
        TIF dollars funded Flourish’s construction, which did poorly (under two sets of owners) in a spot with much more foot traffic. Development is better than blight.
        
        That being said, in my recent post, I said: Sure, go ahead and front the capital, heart, and sweat equity for this
        great business idea. Want a business in that risky location? Be that
        business. Start that business.
        
        I think it just makes sense to put cute local things near other cute local things: it creates positive feedback areas.
        
        The Dunkin Donuts two doors down would slaughter any local breakfast/coffee shop competition.
        
        If someone want’s to put up a shingle there, I’m happy for them, but that’s up to a single entrepreneurial person, not the “collective imagination” of a community.
mikl

Go Starbucks and go Edgewater. Hopefully Starbucks won’t let all the creepy panhandlers hang around the front of their building and in the doorways of their establishment as does the Metropolis.
Starpopeye

What a perfect location for a Starbucks-students, traffic north,south, east and west-great for a drive through. Perhaps a 2 for 1 with Pepeyes, and it will be perfect.
Gabi

Here are a couple of alternative suggestions – ones that would either keep the profits in the community or bring benefit to the community in other ways besides just offering the same old cup of coffee. Ideas? Anyone?

1) A drive-thru coffee shop that is locally owned??
2) Some green space where people could sit with their lunch, or, their cup of coffee??
3) A mini-golf course? Not sure if you have been over to the bunny hutch on lincoln recently but the place is packed at night. Imagine going up to the corner to play a friendly round of golf where you can also go inside and buy a plate of fries and a drink? People love the restaurant at Granville and the lake so imagine something like that but with heaters in the winter?
Therese

I agree with Gabi on this one; as a community there are many things we need before a franchise coffeeshop like Starbucks, and more awful traffic. Remember, as a biz strategy Starbucks is on record saying it aims to close down nearby competitors. I’d rather see our area support Metropolis, Stella’s and other locally owned businesses, and encourage more like them, than bring in a company that wants to close the local shops down. I love the mini-golf idea; how about bringing the mosaic artists who are beautifying our underpasses, along with students from Senn’s new fine arts program, to build something beautiful, unique, and local. A destination, as opposed to another *yawn* Starbucks. There are already enough of those in Chicago.
LB

Just wondering if the people who keep suggesting Starbucks, desire “Starbucks”, or desire a coffee shop. In other words, does this need to be a “Starbucks” establishment for you? or would you be open to another Metropolis, or Intelligentsia, or Peet’s, or Stella’s #2, or unknown quantity? If it must be “Starbucks” can you articulate why that is the case for you? Just wondering why people support the idea of a corporate take-over of that corner.
LB

See – this is why I think more Starbucks in general are a bad idea. I just happened to read this Sun Times article about how the city and Lollapalooza handled (or didn’t handle…) moving people to safety during this past Saturday’s major storm. Here’s a quote about how Starbuck’s managed an influx of folks as well as existing customers:
Michael

Ok everyone… Starbuck’s isn’t my first choice either. Gabi has some wonderful ideas, but where were all these ideas for the past ummmm I don’t know 5 or more years when that awkward space was sitting vacant. If Starbuck’s wants to open now, let them. This is America after all, and they have every right to develop that space in accordance with zoning. I know I’ll continue to patronize local businesses instead, and if you’re that offended by a Starbuck’s you should do the same. Bottom line though, economic development of almost any kind is what Edgewater needs.
- LB
  
  That corner needs development, yes. Economic development? Maybe. That’s an option, it’s not the only way forward. Great ideas happen sometimes at awkward times, not exactly when you want. It doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t get consideration. Gabi – you do have wonderful ideas and they should be considered. If we keep averting our eyes and saying “Oh well….” as you suggest Michael, we’ll end up with a neighborhood full of Starbucks, Walmarts, and car dealerships. Here’s a moment where the neighborhood has a say, and is saying something. And Starbucks ISN’T in that space yet and quite possibly shouldn’t be – ever. There’s a whole sub-population of folks in Chicago clamoring to do micro-restaurants — eg., food trucks. What if that space was a rotating food truck space? Throw in some pop-up art and now you have something interesting going on in Edgewater that draws attention, visitors, and other viable interesting outside-the-green-box businesses and non-profits.
- Dianna
  
  Michael, I’m with you. I adore all of these wonderful “outside the box” ideas, but since none of them have been proposed to the Alderman, or brought forward, I say let Starbucks in.
  No one wants to have big scary corporation on every corner, and its ridiculous to say that the people who support this venture want that. There are already a great mixture of local and chain businesses in that surrounding area, and I really don’t think that letting in another chain will upset that precious balance. As Michael said, if Metropolis is your thing, then keep patronizing them, encourage your friends to go there, etc etc.
  Keep in mind the importance of this — building a new business there would mean more contruction/contracting jobs and then once it’s open it will create new long-term jobs. ANd Karen is right as well — Starbucks pays better than most, they are unionized, and offer good benefits to their employees —- in these economic hard times, how can you say no to that?
  - Therese
    
    Just FYI: Starbucks is NOT unionized. One shop locally has affiliated with IWW but the corporation is on record opposing unionization.
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Mike-Edgewater resident

Bring on the new Starbucks, perfect location and who cares if its a chain? The employees will likely be from the neighborhood and thats what counts the most. There are plenty of other empty spaces to be developed by non chains if they wish to come in. Starbucks has long been a leader in progressive human rights and i welcome the new location whole heartedly.
bill

i like starbucks ok, but their shipping container concept is ugly:
http://inhabitat.com/starbucks-opens-new-reclamation-drive-thru-made-from-recycled-shipping-containers/reclamation-drive-thru-starbucks-3/?extend=1
Pingback: Shipping Container Starbucks opens | Edgeville Buzz()

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