BRIDGEPORT — Standing in front of the neighborhood’s movers and shakers at the annual South Loop Chamber of Commerce fundraiser, Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th) talked business.
“We have a lot of great things going on,” he said, pointing to Vienna Beef and South Chicago Packaging — two companies that expanded in the ward this fall. "A lot of businesses moving here."
The rookie alderman has been working with the South Loop Chamber, he said, to attract retailers to fill some of the vacancies dotting Halsted street from Canaryville to University Village.
His talking points sounded familiar. Before Thompson took over the 11th Ward, his campaign hinged on bringing life back to neighborhood’s heart: Halsted Street.
On the stump, Thompson called the area around 35th and Halsted streets a catalyst for economic development — a prime-time spot for bars and restaurants and a place ripe for tax increment financing to pretty up busted-down buildings and create a beautiful business district.
It’s been five months since the lawyer-turned-alderman took office, and neighborhood folks might be wondering: What’s he been up to?
Thompson recently sat down with DNAinfo Chicago to chat about his vision for the 11th Ward and the progress he’s made so far.
Sitting in the conference room of the 11th Ward Democratic Organization at 3659 S. Halsted, across the street from Schaller’s Pump, Thompson opened up about the difficulty that comes with taking over one of the South Side’s most storied wards.
“It’s hard,” Thompson said. “People come up, and I think they think I have a magic wand, and it’s like, ‘Well, what’s going on on Halsted?’”
The expectations of voters even extend to his wife, Katie, who often asks: What are you doing on Halsted every day?
Thompson keeps it real: “I say, ‘Well, hun. I’ve been here for five months …’”
Regarding projects brewing in the 11th Ward, Thompson said many are still in the starting stages of development. Conversations are ongoing with business owners, retailers and investors interested in maybe dumping some dough into the neighborhood's main artery.
As the alderman sees it, an important part of his job is hitting the streets and pronouncing to the world: Bridgeport is one of Chicago's greatest neighborhoods.
“You’re the Hawk Harrelson," Thompson said. "You’re out there constantly pumping and promoting, which I do.”
With new families moving into the neighborhood, Thompson said it's that attitude that will help develop a retail corridor those families will want to explore and talk to their friends about.
“How do we help facilitate or expedite that?” Thompson asked.
Showing developers around town, pointing out the sights. Pumping and promoting.
Since Thompson took office, retailers, developers and contacts he built in the business community have reached out to talk opportunities in the 11th Ward, he said.
“I’m taking them through here on a weekly basis,” Thompson said.
And what do they see?
Sometimes it’s vacant parcels of land and empty storefronts — blighted patches of one of the city's oldest's communities.
Like the vacant plot at the corner of 31st and Halsted, a city-owned patch next to a green, beautified water run-off designed to drain out the Deering District’s Police parking lot.
“It looks nice, but, you know what? It’s Halsted Street,” Thompson said. “That’s gotta have commerce.”
That’s why Thompson put in a request with the city's planning department — and engineers agreed, he said — to move the water run-off underground and work with a developer to transform the corner into something the locals can enjoy.
“There will be two retailers that will be coming in on that corner,” said Thompson, who could not yet disclose what stores would set up shop. In "the next few months we’ll be able to announce something.”
Thompson said a developed corner would be a “great catalyst” for more business development along Halsted.
Across the street from the police parking garage are two more vacant parcels. On of them is used as a parking lot for Potsticker House, one Bridgeport’s most popular Chinese restaurants.
“I’d like to try to formalize that with them and make that their parking,” Thompson said, “because that business is doing very well.”
Between 32nd and 33rd streets, you’ll find the new UPS store, which has steadily drawn business since it opened in January. Next door is a vacant storefront, said Thompson, who is working with the owners to find a new tenant.
A developer might also notice the businesses already booming along this stretch of road, Thompson said.
“Those two streets have some vibrancy already,” Thompson said, pointing to Bernice’s Tavern and Nana Organic. “You know, places that have been around."
Thompson said he's working with owners of weathered buildings in this area to use cash from the Small Business Improvement Fund to clean up crumbling facades.
Farther south along Halsted is the stretch of road between 34th and 35th streets — an area Thompson sees as a focal point.
Though some of the business owners in this area have invested some money into their buildings, many developers held off to see the result of the aldermanic elections, Thompson said.
“They understand I’m somebody who understands commerce,” Thompson said.
On the west side of Halsted near 34th Street, you’ll find another vacant lot between the Richard J. Daley Library and the former site of Halsted Foods, where Thompson hopes to one day see a restaurant, cafe or butcher shop.
The city bought the lot next door with an intention to expand the library and maybe even build an outdoor reading garden.
But the dusty lot could also represent an opportunity to add much-needed parking to the area and improve the retail corridor, Thompson said.
“I would be open to exploring, instead of utilizing that as a reading garden, perhaps utilizing that as off-street parking to help with the retail component,” Thompson said. “And then, in turn, the businesses that would benefit from that would have to help invest in the library.”
Past 35th and Halsted, you’ll find one of the neighborhood’s hot button properties: The Ramova Theatre.
Public records show the city recently used more than $130,000 in tax increment financing — a fund that, as of June 2014, held more than $22 million for the 35th/Halsted district — to sustain the weathered Ramova with building repairs.
Thompson said the Ramova is still on the city’s radar, but there are no developments to discuss at this time.
And South of 35th Place along Halsted? Thompson said he’d be open to developing that "straight residential," drawing quality tenants to an area the alderman envisions as a future beacon of commerce.
In the meantime, you might catch Thompson at any number of night meetings, toting a yellow pad and pen, jotting down ideas from local folks about how to improve the neighborhood.
“That’s one of the appeals for going into government," Thompson said. “You get to help people."
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