Trader Joe's plans Lincoln Park store
(Crain's) — Trader Joe's is planning a fourth Chicago store at a Lincoln Park site where another grocer, Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., had been considering a larger store.
Trader Joe's, known for its budget-conscious gourmet offerings and its upbeat employees who sport Hawaiian shirts, has leased 14,500 square feet in a new building planned on Diversey Parkway next to two vacant retail stores at 651 and 659 W. Diversey, sources say.
A co-owner of the properties, Fred Latsko, would only confirm a deal was made with a "small grocer," which he says neighborhood groups preferred rather than original plans for a 50,000-square-foot Roundy's.
Mr. Latsko, a principal with Structure Management Midwest LLC, co-owns the site with M Development LLC. The two Chicago-based developers are also partners on the newly built Barneys New York location on Oak Street, where the upscale retailer is slated to move possibly as soon as next month.
On Diversey, Mr. Latsko says he hopes the developers will get a construction loan in time to break ground this year for a late 2010 opening.
"Even though we are struggling in this economy, we are still getting deals done," Mr. Latsko says. "We're fortunate we focused on good, quality real estate."
A spokeswoman for Trader Joe's, which has more than 300 stores nationwide with 13 in the suburbs, including one that opened recently in west suburban Oak Park, didn't return a call seeking comment. The company is owned by a member of the billionaire German family that owns the Aldi supermarket chain.
Trader Joe's was represented by Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Real Estate Group.
Mr. Latsko says his venture with M Development is planning a new building at 671 W. Diversey that would be about 37,800 square feet, with 112 parking spaces on the second level and rooftop.
The two empty retail buildings will remain: a former Pier 1 Imports store at 651 W. Diversey that's 10,000 square feet and a 15,700-square-foot former Barnes & Noble at 659 W. Diversey that closed at the end of last year.
Mr. Latsko says he's in talks with other retailers about those spaces.
Mr. Latsko's venture with M Development was in talks early last year with Milwaukee-based Roundy's to build a new 50,000-square-foot store at the Diversey site, but a lease was never signed, Mr. Latsko says. M Development principals didn't return a call seeking comment.
Related story: Roundy's planning Lincoln Park store
Roundy's signed two leases last month in Chicago, in Lakeshore East downtown and in Bronzeville on the South Side. The chain, which intends to eventually have about a dozen stores here, also has leased a North Side site at 1515 N. Halsted St. in a proposed development at the former New City YMCA.
