WEST LOOP — In the history books, 2016 will likely be known as the year the West Loop went from changing neighborhood to changed neighborhood.
Long known as the city's meatpacking district, for a time Skid Row and then home to Oprah's Harpo Studios, he neighborhood has boomed in 2016 thanks to pricey development, attracting new residents and Fortune 500 companies alike.
Hear Stephanie Lulay recount her top stories for 2016, and look ahead to 2017, in the West Loop.
But a number of other stories had West Loop and Near West Side residents talking this year. From the hero movers who saved a woman's life to a chaotic canceled rally for the future president of the United States, these are the stories that mattered most in 2016.
A rendering shows what McDonald's corporate headquarters in the West Loop will look like. [Sterling Bay]
1. McDonald's Plans Corporate Headquarters In The West Loop
The rumors were true — fast food giant McDonald's was making plans to call the West Loop home.
Rumors that McDonald's was making plans to move its corporate headquarters from Oak Brook to the former Harpo Studios campus swirled this summer, and the company officially confirmed the news in June.
Scheduled to open in spring 2018, the new nine-story building will house McDonald's corporate offices and Hamburger University, one of seven worldwide locations that provides training for the company’s future employees. The move will bring 2,000 employees to the West Loop, a company representative confirmed.
Sterling Bay is also pitching plans for a 13-story office building the developer is internally calling McDonald's "Vendor Village." That new building could bring another 1,000 employees to the West Loop.
Joining Google, Motorola Solutions moved its corporate headquarters and 800 employees to the West Loop this year, and tech company Glassdoor announced plans to move to Fulton Market in 2017.
R2 Companies bought the Isaacson and Stein Fish Company site and plans to redevelop the buildings into retail shops. [R2 Companies]
2. Development Boom Drives Meatpackers Out
From luxury high-rise apartment buildings to McDonald's corporate headquarters, a boom of new development in the West Loop is rapidly changing the character of the neighborhood.
About 20 residential projects proposed or under construction in the neighborhood would bring more than 5,000 new units of housing to the West Loop. And then there are hotels, office buildings and new retail development. As more trendy restaurants and shops move into the red-hot neighborhood, a number of meatpackers and food processors have announced plans to leave.
In October, the city's oldest fresh fish wholesaler, Isaacson and Stein Fish Co., announced it sold its buildings in Fulton Market for $9 million to make way for retail. That same month, Morreale Meats moved out, and later sold its five buildings for $36 million.
In June, Pastorelli Food Products, a company that has called the West Loop home since the 1930s, announced plans to sell its facility at 901 W. Lake St.
Bridgford Foods is also making plans to leave the neighborhood. In its place, the company aims to build a 13-story luxury apartment and boutique office building at 170 and 171 N. Green St.
"The sale of these properties marks the end of an era for history of the meatpacking industry in Fulton Market and helps shape the neighborhood going forward,” Scott Maesel, managing director of SVN Chicago Commercial, said earlier this year.
Renderings show what the Skinner West expansion could look like. [Public Building Commission; DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
3. Controversial $20 Million Skinner West Expansion Approved
In July, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and top city leaders announced plans to expand overcrowded Skinner West Elementary School in the West Loop.
The 25,000-square-foot addition will add a total of 15 classrooms to the prestigious CPS school, which serves both selective enrollment and neighborhood students. The $20 million expansion will be funded with public tax dollars and is expected to be completed in September 2018.
But the move to expand Skinner wasn't with controversy. Emanuel's plan to expand Skinner came just seven years after the school was rebuilt with the help of TIF funding to add a neighborhood component and three years after the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 50 Chicago schools, including many on the West Side.
CPS security also barred reporters from entering the public meeting announcing the expansion in July.
Marc Winner, 46, is charged in four separate rape cases dating to 2009. [DNAinfo; Chicago Police Department]
4. West Loop Tanning Salon Owner Charged With Four Rapes
After he was charged in one rape case in 2015, prosecutors went on to charge former West Loop tanning salon owner Marc Winner in three additional rape cases in 2016.
Now 46, Winner has now been charged with raping four women from 2009 to 2015. In three of the cases, prosecutors said the victims were employees or customers at Winner's tanning salon, Soleil Tanning, 1018 W. Madison St., which was closed by the city in May.
Although prosecutors have called him "a real and present threat to the physical safety of any woman," Winner was released on bond in August, making a dramatic exit from the Cook County Jail.
Winner was seen moving equipment out of the salon earlier this month.
RELATED: 'Rid This Cancer': West Loopers Relieved As Serial Rape Suspect Evicted
Movers Josh Lara, Cody Grant, Mike Zaininger may have saved a woman's life in October by helping her hide in their truck while her armed ex-boyfriend looked for her. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
5. Hero Movers Save Woman's Life As Armed Ex Searched For Her
Three hero movers who likely saved a woman's life earlier this year in a horrific incident went on to make national headlines.
Movers Josh Lara, Cody Grant and Mike Zaininger were working a job in the West Loop when they helped a woman hide in their truck while her armed ex-boyfriend looked for her at the dental office where she worked.
On Oct. 20, an armed man entered Skyline Smiles, 1017 W. Madison St., looking for his ex-girlfriend before fatally shooting himself outside, according to police. The man was later identified as Clint Engle, 40, who had a history of domestic violence.
The three-man moving crew was unloading furniture in the alley when a frantic woman came running from the back of the dental office. The three immediately took the woman into the back of the truck and later moved her to an apartment nearby, harboring her from the gunman.
Witnesses then saw Engle, dressed in jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt, come out of the rear of the building with a shotgun at his side. Engle then fatally shot himself in the head.
In December, the three heroic young men were honored by City Council.
RELATED: Movers Hid Woman In Truck As Armed Ex Searched For Her At Dental Office
Chicago Police had to clear out the UIC Pavilion after the Trump rally was canceled for safety reasons. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
6. Canceled Trump Rally At UIC Makes National Headlines
Escalating tensions in Donald Trump's presidential campaign exploded in Chicago in March, forcing the abrupt cancelation of a planned Trump speech at the UIC Pavilion on the Near West Side as thousands of people waited.
The now-president-elect never took the stage before his campaign called off the rally. Shoving and shouting matches broke out inside and outside of the University of Illinois at Chicago's arena as Trump supporters and protesters squared off, though only a few injuries were reported.
The Parthenon closed after 48 years in business in September. [Parthenon; DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
7. Greektown Gem Parthenon Closes Doors
With a single sign out front, Parthenon owners Bill and Christos Liakouras quietly announced the iconic Greektown restaurant would close for good in September.
In business for 48 years at 314 S. Halsted St., The Parthenon was widely credited as having invented the Greektown tradition of serving tableside flaming saganaki.
A week after closing, the Sun-Times reported that Parthenon owners owed about $475,000 in state and federal taxes.
Hundreds of items from the restaurant were sold at auction in October and partner Sotirios Stasinos sued Christos Liakouras and Liakouras’ daughter Joanna in December. The lawsuit alleges the father and daughter withdrew more than $870,000 from The Parthenon to fund other business ventures that Stasinos didn’t know about.
A rendering shows what the Old Cook County Hospital redevelopment could look like. [Cook County Board President's Office]
8. $1 Billion In New Development Will Change Face Of Medical District
Two major development projects revealed in 2016 — totaling $1 billion in new investment — will change the face of the Medical District in the future.
In May, the Cook County Board approved a $700 million plan to redevelop the shuttered Cook County Hospital. A hotel, apartments, shops and restaurants are expected to be developed at the old hospital site.
In September, developers unveiled new renderings for the $300 million Gateway project on the Near West Side. The massive 10-acre project will bring two hotels, young professional housing, retail and office space to the vacant site at Damen and Harrison in the Illinois Medical District.
The team behind Alinea and The Aviary opened Roister at 951 W. Fulton Market in April. [Matthew Gilson]
9. More and More Restaurants Join Restaurant Row
Randolph's restaurant row continued to live up to its name with a slew of high-profile openings, but in 2016, high-profile restaurateurs continued set their sights on Madison, Fulton Market and Lake Street, too.
How many restaurants opened in the neighborhood in 2016? Almost too many to count, but the sizable list included: Forno Rosso Pizzeria on Randolph in January; Stephanie Izard's Duck Duck Goat on Fulton Market in March; Green Street Local in March; Roister on Fulton Market in April; Smack Shack on Fulton Market in April; Rick Bayless' Cruz Blanca and Leña Brava in May; Honey's on Lake Street in June; Federales at Lake and Morgan in June; Mad Boiler on Madison in June; Smyth & The Loyalist on Ada Street in August; Bad Hunter on Randolph in October; Won Fun Chinese and 2Fun Chinese on Randolph in November; Elske on Randolph in December; Ronero on Randolph in December.
Ald. Walter Burnett Jr.was outside the 27th Ward office in April when a man punched him, knocking him to the ground. [27th Ward office]
10. Alderman Burnett Sucker-Punched At Office
This year marked a bizarre first for veteran West Loop Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. — the first time he was punched on the job.
The sucker punch attack, captured on surveillance video outside the 27th Ward office, happened just before Ward Night in April. A 30-year-old man, who called himself Lucifer and said he was going to get Burnett and "the mayor," was later charged with aggravated battery of a government employee.
The sucker punch attack off a lousy spring for the Alderman. In May, his bike was stolen from his Near West Side office and a 44-year-old man was subsequently charged.
RELATED: 8 West Loop Stories That Mattered In 2015
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