By Jim Sterne
News Editor
“They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” said Christine Luscher about her building, 4762 N. Lincoln Ave., which houses her Salamander shoe store. The three-story building will become the new real estate offices for Sussex and Reilly.
“We’ve been in Lincoln Square for 29 years and we’ll still be here when we move one half block south to 4740 N. Lincoln Ave. in February,” Luscher said as she put the finishing touches on a sale at Salamander. “We’re having a big sale so we don’t have to move much.” Eight years ago she became part owner of the 4740 building. “I always loved it and now we’ve bought out the other partners so it will be ours in a few weeks.” The new shoe store is the perfect 15,000 square feet, “minus the entrance hallway which makes it about 13,000,” Luscher said.
Brad Leibov, executive director of the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce, said that there is a mismatch of what small business owners are looking for and what is available in Lincoln Square. “Right now I have about eight entrepreneurs who would like a presence on Lincoln Ave. but what is available is too big. They are looking for between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet. and places like Bits and Pieces or the North Town are over 3,000.” Leibov said that the Chamber is working with the owners and the alderman to divide the properties, making them more desirable. “Space that large is of not of interest without dedicated parking.”
“Lincoln Square is a very hot market — we have had more interviews with the Tribune and the Sun-Times in the last two months than we’ve had in the last two years,” Leibov said. “And, of course, the residential market has been booming for years.”
One property that is sure to cause interest is the former Enisa’s at the corner of Leland and Lincoln avenues, up for auction. Another building of Enisa Enesco’s at Wilson and Lincoln avenues will be auctioned in a few days by Cosmopolitan bank; it contains the long-shuttered Lincoln Grocery.
“There are things in the works,” Leibov said, “but I just can’t say at the moment.” What is known is that the Chopping Block will be moving in soon and Mike Cullen’s theater will break ground in April, replacing the Juergen”s North Star Bakery.
The Greciana Taverna, 4535 N. Lincoln Ave., has been sold, The canopy is gone, the ceiling lowered and all traces of the taverna have been removed to make way for a restaurant and bar that will open in mid-March. |
