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Starbucks With Upscale Reserve Bar Coming To Wrigley Field Office Building

By Ariel Cheung | December 9, 2016 1:37pm | Updated on December 12, 2016 8:47am
 Starbucks Reserve will open in the Wrigley Field office building complex in mid-2017.
Starbucks Reserve will open in the Wrigley Field office building complex in mid-2017.
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Provided/Starbucks

WRIGLEYVILLE — A Starbucks with a high-end Reserve bar will open in the Wrigley Field office building complex next year, the owners of the Chicago Cubs said Friday.

The new coffee shop is the first retailer announced for the office building, part of the Park at Wrigley Field complex.

But if you want a cup of the upscale, small-batch coffee, it's going to cost you big.

Currently, the exotic blends are sold for $10 cups and brewed in glass siphons in Manhattan's Upper East Side, Reuters reported.

Flights of Reserve brews and nitro cold brew also cost $10, according to Reuters. Starbucks also offers $19-$44 monthly subscriptions for bags of Reserve blends, giving customers a direct line to deluxe coffee roasted in Seattle and delivered within 48 hours.

Starbucks confirmed the cost of the "immersive experience and cup of siphon-brewed coffee" Friday afternoon. Compared to the $1.95 cup of Pike Place Roast, the Reserve coffee will be brewed with several premium techniques like Clover, chemex or Black Eagle, a spokeswoman said.

The Starbucks at Wrigley Field will have about 2,700 square feet below the Cubs offices and is expected to open in the second quarter of 2017, a Cubs spokesman said.

It is unknown whether, as a result of the planned Starbucks, the coffee chain will shutter the nearby Starbucks at 3551 N. Sheffield Ave., which opened in the former Harry Caray's Tavern earlier this year.

The Seattle-based company plans to open multiple Reserve stores, described as a cross between its "most premium" Reserve Roasteries — of which five are planned worldwide — and the new Princi stores opening over the next two years.

During its annual investors conference Wednesday, Starbucks said the Reserve experience bars will also be added to one-fifth of its current core stores. In total, the company will have more than 37,000 stores by 2021.

Chicago will be home to one of the first Starbucks Reserves, which combines a baked goods menu from Italian chef Rocco Princi with the specialty coffees of the Reserve brand.

Starbucks confirmed plans for the specialty shop in the West Loop.

RELATED: Pizza At Starbucks? Coffee Chain Bringing An Italian Bakery To West Loop

"Starbucks Reserve stores are a new retail format that will integrate the theater and romance of the Roastery with the unique culinary experience of the company's new Italian food partner, Princi," the company said in its conference recap.

The Wrigley Field Starbucks will serve Reserve coffee, the chain's limited quantity small batch roasts. In New York, the newly opened Reserve stores have cold brew on tap and special Reserve espresso drinks like a Smoked Butterscotch Latte and a Shakerato Bianco.

While a $10 cup of coffee might seem steep, the "experience" of making it takes about 10 minutes. The siphon-brewed coffee "is a highly visual immersion demonstrating the brewing technique," via vacuum filtration.

The Wrigley Field office building will be home to a Starbucks Reserve store, slated to open in mid-2017. [Provided/Chicago Cubs/Rendering by VOA Associates Incorporated]

The company will also roll out organic soups and more grab-and-go lunch choices like salads, sandwiches and bottled cold brew coffee and Teavana ice teas.

The third year of offseason renovations began at Wrigley Field after the Cubs' historic World Series championship in November.

The office building at Waveland and Clark is the top priority, and the club hopes to move its operations there by March. The other big-ticket item, the triangle plaza now called The Park At Wrigley Field, will be ready for the Cubs' home opener April 10, officials said.

Across the street, the Hotel Zachary is also under construction. The hotel will include well-known Chicago eateries like Big Star and Smoke Daddy BBQ and will under the management of Hickory Street Capital, a development company owned by the Ricketts family, which also owns the Cubs and Wrigley Field.

Construction is also underway at the southeast corner of Clark and Addison, where the Addison & Clark complex will be home to Lucky Strike bowling, Shake Shack and a Cinemex movie theater.

The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by an entity controlled by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.