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South Loop Businesses Hope New Green Line Station Means More Customers

By Josh McGhee | March 16, 2015 5:55am
 The Green Line station at State Street and Cermak Road opened in early February.
Cermak-McCormick Place Station
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SOUTH LOOP — When the Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line Station opened in the South Loop at the beginning of February, John Mauro wasn't expecting much from it.

The owner of Pizzeria Brandi, 67 E. Cermak Road, wasn't anticipating that commuters would flock to his pizza shop or that the strip along Cermak Road would suddenly become a bustling hub of foot traffic.

So far he's been right.

"While they were building it the construction people would come over for lunch. Now that they're gone we get even less [customers]," Mauro said.

The CTA disrupted Green Line service on a weekly basis for 1½ years to build the $50 million station.

The station was intended to fill a transportation gap left on the South Side since the previous station was closed back in 1977. CTA President Forrest Claypool said the station at State and Cermak would offer "a convenient transit option for commuters, residents, employees and visitors, and at the same time help support economic development well under way in the community."

Mauro is just one of several business owners along Cermak Road who said they've yet to see any changes since the station opened.

"I never thought it would make much difference. The walking traffic isn't what it used to be and every year it's been less and less," Mauro said. "It's a ghost town out here Monday through Thursday."

Enrique Perez, General Manager of Chef Luciano & Gourmet Chicken at 49 E. Cermak Road, said he hasn't seen the influx of customers just yet, contending it might be too early to really tell. So far, "we're doing the same as last year though we got a little boost then."

While Mauro believes the traffic boost will take more than a year to really see — a sentiment he learned from lunchtime conversations with construction workers in his restaurant — Perez is hoping reap the benefits a lot sooner.

"Once the conventions begin at McCormick Place, there will be more traffic," Perez said adding during the summer he sees more commuters than locals. "Their curiosity brings them here. They want something local instead of just eating in the food court."

Around the corner at Reggie's Rock Club, at 2105 S. State St., employees said the only attention they've garnered since the station opened is commuters watching from the platform that sits over the club's balcony and rooftop.

"The train goes right past our patio, everyone on the train looks out at it and from the platform you can see our rooftop as well," a manager at the club said. "There was a lot of people around during the [2015 Auto Show]. It became super active. There was a lot of people making stops around here and Reggie's."

Most of those businesses agree that the biggest boost is still further down the line as more housing develops and other businesses flock to the South Loop.

One clear improvement, which Perez wouldn't solely credit the station for, is the feeling of improved safety in the area. At least four employees at the restaurant, which opened in 1982, have had their cars broken into while they were working at the restaurant over the last decade, he said.

Those fears have all but subsided over the last few years, he said.

"It was a much scarier place where people were scared when they came out there. But people have been less scared the last few years," Perez said.

In 2011, Chef Luciano & Gourmet Chicken was awarded the Chicago Landmark Award for Preservation for renovating the building, which was built in 1929 and housed one of the city's first White Castle restaurants. Those improvements, which included replacing the bulletproof glass that separated customers from employees with an open counter, illustrated the changes of the area and allowed them to stay open an hour later, he said.

The new station helps illuminate the evolution of the area for the customers, he said.

"Customers say it's a completely different era; that's because the area is completely different than it was in the '80s. All of this kinda helps make the area look much nicer," Perez said.

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