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Double Door's Eviction Date Still Not Final As Court Case Drags On

By Joe Ward | August 4, 2016 6:24pm
 The Double Door has been a Wicker Park staple since 1994.
The Double Door has been a Wicker Park staple since 1994.
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Facebook/Double Door

DALEY CENTER — Double Door's days at its iconic Milwaukee Avenue location are numbered, but a judge on Thursday declined to put an exact date on when the rock club will have to leave.

Judge Orville Hambright Jr. was set to rule Thursday on a date when the club would have to vacate its building at 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park, but a technical matter caused Hambright to push his decision back at least two weeks.

The action comes after Hambright in early July ruled in favor of Double Door's landlord, Brian Strauss, who had taken his tenant to court to force an eviction after he said Double Door's owners failed to property exercise its lease renewal option.

After ruling in favor of Strauss, Hambright said he needed time to determine when Double Door should be forced to leave its home on Milwaukee Avenue since 1994.

Attorneys for Strauss asked for a speedy eviction date, but club owners Sean Mulroney and Joe Shanahan said the club had already booked acts into March of 2017 and asked to stay until at least then.

Hambright asked to see the contracts between the club and the bands hired to play shows, but he didn't receive the contracts until Thursday.

That's because the two parties could not agree on just who could see the contracts.

Lawyers for the club wanted a protective order on the contracts, meaning Strauss could not disseminate the contracts beyond his lawyers on the case. But Strauss wanted his advisor to see the contracts, too, which the club's lawyers opposed.

The parties did not agree on who could see the contracts until they reached court Thursday, when Hambright scheduled an August 15 date for both parties and the judge to sit down and hash out a reasonable eviction date.

The failure to form a consensus on the contracts has been indicative of the court proceedings between the club and its landlord, and Hambright once again admonished the parties for their inability to work together.

"Now the plot thickens," Hambright said. "I'm looking at both of you."

Club co-owner Joe Shanahan called the proceedings "shameful" and said Strauss was "greedy."

He said the inability to form a consensus on how to move forward has caused harm to the club's 40 employees, who don't know how long they might have their current jobs.

"It's not just the bands, the management ... that's my problem," Shanahan said. "It's the kids who work at the club who don't know what their future is."

Double Door has been vocal about its desires to remain at the Milwaukee Avenue location and has said it is willing to work with Strauss.

But Shanahan said Strauss has cut off all communication with the club and has not budged from his position that the club should leave.

"We want to stay. He wants us out," Shanahan said. "We're not rolling over."

Strauss did not take questions after the hearing Thursday but has previously said he wants to end his business relationship with the club.

"It's come to an end," Strauss said following the judge's ruling. "We wish them well."

Related coverage:

Double Door Ordered To Leave Wicker Park Location By Judge (July 14)

Double Door Eviction Trial Ends But Still No Verdict (June 29)

Double Door Eviction Case Delayed Again, Will New Twist Save Club? (June 20)

Double Door Eviction Trial Ends, Judge Could Rule By Monday (June 14) 

Double Door Should Get Zoning Change, Alderman Says, But It's Not Clear Why (June 2)

Double Door Landlord Tells Club to Get Out on First Day of Trial (May 18)

Double Door Eviction Case Still In Limbo, 'Pretrial Talks' Continued (May 12)

Double Door Lawyer 'Hopeful' Club Stays As Case Heads to Trial (April 12)

Double Door Eviction Delayed as Court Fight Continues (Jan. 27)

Double Door Eviction Fight: Music to Continue as Case Drags On (Jan. 8)

Double Door Building Sale to Downtown Investors Underway, Records Show (Jan. 5)

Double Door's Landlord Could be Close to Selling Iconic Club's Building (Dec. 17, 2015)

Lawyer in Double Door Eviction Case: 'Time for Them to Go' (Dec. 10, 2015)

Double Door Liquors, Iconic Wicker Park Music Venue, Facing Eviction (Dec. 3, 2015)

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