JEFFERSON PARK — The Sportif Bike Shop — which has been at the heart of efforts to redevelop the Jefferson Park Business District for decades — is for sale, the owner said Monday.
But don't expect the store at 5525 W. Lawrence Ave. to close anytime soon, owner Donald Zordani said.
Gavin Stainthorpe, a Realtor with Nelson Hill Commercial Real Estate Services, said he was accepting offers for the property, which has not been listed at a specific price.
The "highest and best use" of the property at the gateway to Jefferson Park would be to tear down the 7,500-square-foot store and build a mixed-use development of apartments or condominiums as well as shops and stores on the ground floor, Stainthorpe said.
Sportif Bike Shop has called the white-stone faced store for nearly 50 years, Zordani said. Before the bike shop took it over, the building once housed a Jewel grocery store, records show.
With a proposal to build 39 apartments and nearly a dozen shops east of the bike shop moving forward, Stainthorpe said he was hopeful that interest in the property would grow.
Once the property is sold, it would take Zordani between six months and a year to get rid of his inventory of several thousand bicycles, Stainthorpe said.
The Chicago City Council agreed in November to sell the land east of the bike shop at 5161 W. Lawrence Ave. and 5201 W. Lawrence Ave. for $1 to Mega Realty, one of the area's largest landowners. The Planning Department is still reviewing the plans for the site, said Ald. John Arena (45th), who supports the project.
The bike shop has been surrounded by empty lots for nearly 15 years after city officials tore down a tire shop, a bank and a two-flat apartment building to make way for a seven-story, 132-unit condominium complex that was never built.
Zordani blocked city efforts to use eminent domain to buy the shop, across the street from the Copernicus Center. Sportif has been an island in the middle of vacant lots near the Kennedy Expressway ever since.
The 39-unit apartment complex along with another proposal from Mega Realty to build a 13-story tower near the Jefferson Park Transit Center on Lipps Avenue have the potential to revitalize the business district by increasing the amount of people living within walking distance of shops and restaurants, Arena has said.
A thriving business district will benefit the entire Jefferson Park neighborhood, Arena has said.
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