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Bronzeville Mariano's The Lure as Developer Seeks New Retail, Restaurants

By Sam Cholke | March 11, 2015 5:45am
 Developers are planning 10,000 square feet of new retail for a vacant lot next to a planned Mariano's in Bronzeville.
Developers are planning 10,000 square feet of new retail for a vacant lot next to a planned Mariano's in Bronzeville.
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Courtesy of Hanna Architects

HYDE PARK — The prospect of a new Mariano’s in Bronzeville is luring in new development.

Developer McInerney & McBrearty is planning 10,000 square feet of new retail space at 310 E. Pershing Road, a vacant lot across Martin Luther King Drive from the site where a new Mariano’s grocery store will be built.

“When you get a large scale development like a Mariano’s, it brings a lot of excitement to the neighborhood,” said Ivan Boone, the property broker with Frontier Commercial. “Mariano’s is certainly one of the hottest brand names in Chicago right now.”

Boone said the developers, who have waited 14 years to develop the parcel, are looking for retail stores and businesses like dry cleaners or small restaurants to move into the development that will open in early 2016.

“It could be food service, but we’re really not pursuing fast food,” Boone said.

The neighborhood currently has six times more fast-food outlets than the average in the city's 77 community areas, according to a DNAinfo Chicago analysis of Yelp data.

The development will consist of a 1,600-square-foot building on Pershing ringed by a drive-through lane. One Martin Luther King Drive will be 8,400 square feet of retail space that Boone said may be subdivided depending on the tenants.

He said no leases had yet been signed with retailers.

Construction is expected to begin in the late summer.

Mariano’s held a groundbreaking ceremony in January, but has not yet said when the store will open.

“The risk of this is really that we would like to see Mariano’s out there turning dirt,” Boone said.

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