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Read the press release here.

Former Nick's Uptown Building Up for Possible Landmark Designation

By Adeshina Emmanuel | November 6, 2013 9:09am
 Nick's Uptown, 4015 N. Sheridan Road.
Nick's Uptown, 4015 N. Sheridan Road.
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Facebook/ Nicks Uptown

UPTOWN — City officials will decide on Thursday if the former Nick's Uptown building is worthy of consideration for landmark status.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether or not to grant a preliminary landmark recommendation for the building at 4015-4017 N. Sheridan Road.

Nick's closed abruptly in September when its owner sold the late-night bar to Thorek Memorial Hospital, 850 W. Irving Park Road.

The 1920s building was designed by architect Paul Gerhard in the Egyptian Revival style with Egyptian motifs on its facade. It has been a car showroom, and a restaurant called the Cairo Supper Club that was fire bombed in 1964. It became Nick's in 2000.

The acquisition alarmed residents in the Buena Park area on the southern end of Uptown, where neighbors say Thorek has bulldozed other properties and left vacant lots as part of expansion plans that the hospital has yet to set a timetable for.

Ald. James Cappleman (46th) has pledged his support for granting the building landmark status.

"It's one of three buildings left in Chicago that has an Egyptian motif design, which when combined with other criteria, deems it as a building that deserves protection from the threat of demolition," Cappleman said in a recent email to constituents. "I spoke with Thorek Hospital and they agreed."

The landmark recommendation will be considered at the Commission on Chicago Landmarks meeting at 12:35 p.m. at City Hall.

If the commission moves the process forward, next steps, according to the city, include a report about how the building "affects neighborhood plans and policies," a public hearing about the landmark designation and a final commission vote on landmark status for the building.

From there, remaining hurdles to clear include votes by the City Council's Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards and full council before it would be designated a landmark.

For more information about the landmarking process in Chicago, click here.