BUCKTOWN — A local couple who bought a shuttered dive bar are hopeful that the former Mickey's can reopen as The Leavitt Street Inn & Tavern this fall.
But they cautioned Monday that "anything could happen to slow [the plan] down."
The city granted a business license to The Leavitt Street Inn, LLC at 2345 N. Leavitt St. last week, records show. Next month, members of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals will vote on a zoning variance needed to transform the apartments above the bar into an inn, the second part of the business plan.
Far off the beaten path and at the end of a street that dead-ends at the Kennedy Expy., the bar and inn are being recast as a "community amenity" by a group of neighbors led by Teddy Harris and his wife, Sarah Brick.
"It's a place of character and we want to honor that," said Harris, a Bucktown resident who lives a few blocks away from the former Mickey's Tavern.
Harris and Brick bought the century-old tavern building for $400,000 in November 2014, county records show.
Harris said the apartments above the tavern will be converted into an inn, offering eight rooms for people in the neighborhood to use for out-of-town guests, similar to Longman & Eagle in Logan Square, he said.
"It will be a community amenity, a neighborhood living room," Harris said.
The bar, which has been outfitted with a commercial kitchen, will eventually include a restaurant that "will be a bit more upscale than having regular bar food" but will likely open with more simple options such as breakfast and coffee, Harris said Monday.
Described by a fan on Yelp.com as "The best side street neighborhood hidden tavern you will find in the city," Mickey's Tavern, which was known for its unpretentious atmosphere and jukebox, closed in August 2014.
Once the bar reopens, the plan is to have 70 seats indoors and an extra 40 on an outdoor patio, Harris said.
"The bar and kitchen will probably be finished first. ... But we're projecting to open both inn and tavern on the same day. If we can get an opening by this year's holiday season, we would be happy," Harris said.
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who has been talking with the group about their plan for two years, has said he supports it.
"It's a fine-looking project that will fit well into Bucktown. It will improve upon the business and building that is there," Waguespack previously said.
Harris said the second floor above the tavern will offer four smaller rooms with queen-sized beds while the third floor will rent out larger "family-sized" rooms.
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