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Gruppo di Amici to Close, New Restaurant On the Way, Landlord Says

 Gruppo di Amici opened in 2006 in Jarivs Square.
Gruppo di Amici opened in 2006 in Jarivs Square.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — Jarvis Square's Gruppo di Amici announced it will close this week after seven years in business.

But the building's owner said it won't be long until another restaurant takes its place.

"There is another person who is coming in with I think fantastic experience," said landlord Dan Sullivan, who declined to publicly disclose any more information about the new tenant.

This person has "a really strong sense of the neighborhood — and a great idea," Sullivan said.

Sullivan recently closed his own cafe in Jarvis Square to make way for another restaurant, Towbar, which is run by "restaurant people."

"I'm not a restaurant guy," he said in March, when he decided to close Charmers Cafe two storefronts away from Gruppo. And the story there is more of the same.

Lori Alderete and Phaedra Divras opened Gruppo, an upscale Italian restaurant, in 2006.

"They bought it together with a dream of creating a better neighborhood," he said, but a week after signing the lease, Alderete was diagnosed with cancer.

She died in February 2009, according to a Sun-Times obituary.

Sullivan said Divras, who now lives out of state, continued to run the restaurant at 1508 W. Jarvis Ave. until she found a suitable business to replace it.

"This was a labor of love of what she did in remembrance of Lori," he said.

According to a sign posted in the restaurant's window, Gruppo's last day will be Saturday.