CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It’s still a mystery which national grocery store chain wants to move onto the corner of Lawrence and Western, making some Lincoln Square neighbors and business owners uneasy.
A community meeting hosted by aldermen Thursday drew an online crowd of more than 300.
They said developers declined to be part of the meeting because they signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from divulging which supermarket wants into the desirable North Side neighborhood.
That riled neighborhood groups.
“We don’t like the fact that you’re avoiding the process,” Adam Kingsley of the Heart of Lincoln Square Neighbors Association said.
Aldermen say developers are using a loophole that may allow them to forego a zoning change. The property is currently occupied by Fifth Third Bank.
Connie Barnes, president of the Greater Rockwell Organization, addressed the elephant in the on-line Zoom room: the David-versus- Goliath aspect of the proposal that potentially pits independent HarvesTime Foods against a national chain.
“The neighborhood loves the store, and so we don’t want to do anything that would impact their business, as well as any of the other merchants’ business,” Barnes said.
The developers, Hubbard Street Group, have not responded to WBBM Newsradio’s requests for comment.
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