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Rodan Closing Sunday, Leaving 4 Empty Spots Near Busy Wicker Hub

By Alisa Hauser | September 22, 2015 5:46pm
 A 2-story, 10,000 square-foot building at 1530-32 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park will be empty after Rodan closes on Sunday.  Reckless Records moved out in April.
A 2-story, 10,000 square-foot building at 1530-32 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park will be empty after Rodan closes on Sunday. Reckless Records moved out in April.
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DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser

WICKER PARK — Rodan, an independently owned restaurant and lounge that has been a staple on Milwaukee Avenue, plans to close Sunday, a shuttering that will be especially impactful on a Wicker Park block that has seen a rise in empty storefronts.

"It's sad; I will now have a whole little stretch of vacant storefronts next to me," said Nancy Becker, owner of Una Mae's, a boutique at 1528 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Rodan occupies one-half of a two-story, 10,000-square-foot vintage building at 1530-32 N. Milwaukee Ave. that also used to house a Reckless Records, too, though the record store moved out in April and relocated three blocks south. Next to that building, another spot at 1534 N. Milwaukee Ave. has been empty for two years since a toy shop closed.

Across the street, another storefront at 1537 N. Milwaukee Ave., formerly home to iCream, has sat empty for several months.

An Eater.com report that broke the news of Rodan's impending closure cited a rent increase as the reason, but Steve Lipe, a local real estate investor who co-owns the building with NYC-based investor Joseph Dushey, said Tuesday that Rodan's owner Joy Jara voluntarily terminated her lease.

"It was her decision to close; they were on a month-to-month rent since we bought the building at the end of last year," Lipe said.

Jara, who took over Rodan from previous owners three years ago, could not be reached for comment, but the bar's current manager, Jorge Pineda, echoed Lipe in saying that the closure was not related to a rent increase but a desire for Jara to move on.

"I am very sad; I love this place. It's a small team, we are all like family," Pineda said of himself and five other workers who will be working together on their last shift on Sunday. Rodan opened in October 2003, Pineda said.

When asked about future tenants who could be eyeing the spot, located less than one block south of the Milwaukee, Damen and North avenues intersection, Lipe said that "it's definitely a possibility someone could rent the entire building all together."

"Everyone from large-format retail to restaurant and medical" are looking at the possibility of renting out the entire building, Lipe said.

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