BUCKTOWN — Just weeks after closing, Sam's Red Hots has a buyer and will remain a hot dog stand if a deal that's underway sticks, according to a broker who is selling the Bucktown building and lot.
"We are under contract [with a buyer]; it went really quick. It is going to stay an eatery and primarily a hot dog stand," said David Miller with S. Hansen Realty Inc., who listed the 3,049 square-foot structure on a 0.7 acre lot for sale last month.
Miller said that if everything goes as planned, the sale should be wrapping up within the next couple of weeks.
Miller said he's not sure if the potential new owner, whom he declined to name but described as a local restaurateur, will change the name of Sam's Red Hots.
Located at 2345 W. Armitage Ave., just east of Western Avenue, the stand is believed to have opened in the 1940s, according to Ruth Fischer, whose first husband, the late Dr. Leslie Kaplan, bought the stand from the original owner Sam Gillis in 1971, she said.
It only offered a walk-up window and was known for serving Red Hot Chicago brand hot dogs, Polish sausages, tamales and crinkle cut fries.
In late August, Fischer's son David Kaplan had to close the family-owned stand that was witness to four generations and two owners due to an illness.
The triangular lot at the southeast corner of Armitage and Wilmot avenues that was the longtime home of a tiny wooden hot dog shack was priced at $550,000, according to a real estate listing that now lists the property as "active contingent."
An active contingent status refers to when a seller has received an offer from a buyer, but the buyer needs to meet certain conditions before the sale can be finalized.
Fischer, whose family owns the lot, previously said that "it would be wonderful if someone could keep it going as a hot dog stand."
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