Business News
A first-of-its-kind gathering of McKinley Park neighborhood businesses looks to inform community planning at the Business Focus Group breakfast on Sept. 19 at the 36Squared Business Incubator. Part of the McKinley Park Development Council’s project to create a comprehensive neighborhood plan, the event welcomes the participation of all enterprises in the McKinley Park Community Area and the Central Manufacturing District.
The focus group’s business outreach is an important component of the neighborhood plan, which is administered as a project of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), said council President John Belcik. “This plan will help guide McKinley Park into its future,” he said.
Read more: McKinley Park Businesses to Convene Toward Neighborhood Planning
The Chicago Tribune newspaper has published an article by reporter Tony Briscoe that examines the MAT Asphalt plant at 4010 S. Damen Ave. and the new Neighbors for Environmental Justice group formed to bring attention to the project. The article outlines the scope of the the issues surrounding the new plant, including pollution concerns, examples of existing asphalt plant installations, the equipment at MAT Asphalt and the potential influence of Chicago politics.
Read more: Tribune Focuses on Asphalt Plant Development, New Neighborhood Environmental Group
The Chicago Reader newspaper clearly knows about good bars, as they've focused on the McKinley Park neighborhood's stalwart One City Tap in a just-published article. Father-and-son proprietors Marco Lopez and Marco "J.R." Lopez share their story and how they've found success by creating an open, welcoming bar for the community.
Like One City Tap, Tri-Taylor's The Slide Bar also gets nods in the article for being one of the few remaining legitimate neighborhood taverns on the South and West sides. Click here to read The Chicago Reader article.
Thanks to his low bids on City of Chicago street repaving projects, MAT Asphalt co-owner Michael Tadin Jr. announced pending work to pave McKinley Park's South Damen Avenue and other South Side streets with local asphalt installed by sister company MAT Construction. Tadin said his new asphalt plant in the Central Manufacturing District was a key element allowing him to bring in a competitive bid, upending the local asphalt market and saving money for Chicago taxpayers.
Damen will be repaved from South 33rd Street to Pershing Road, part of two district-focused arterial street contracts pending for MAT Construction. Tadin said he won the South Side bid by $700,000 and the North Side bid by hundreds of thousands of dollars, bringing in contract pricing around 12 percent to 14 percent below historical benchmarks. The asphalt will come from the MAT Asphalt plant, now in its calibration stages and set for an opening before the end of May, Tadin said.
Read more: Tadin to Pave Damen; Local Group Announces Air Quality Monitoring
Cesar Gonzalez, owner and proprietor of the popular Pl-zeň gastropub on 18th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, pitched his plan for a neighborhood brewpub at 34th Street and Ashland Avenue during the Wednesday, May 16, meeting of the McKinley Park Development Council. If the development goes through, Gonzalez said he plans to operate a bar and restaurant with brewing capabilities on the first floor of 3401 S. Ashland Ave., and live with his family in one of the rehabbed residences above it.
The plan requires changing the zoning on this property from its current residential-only designation to C1-2 commercial zoning that would allow a first floor business with brewing capabilities. Liliana Escarpita of the 12th Ward office said that the decision on the zoning change needs to happen soon, given city zoning committee meeting schedules and construction loan deadlines tied to the project. Anyone with feedback on the proposed zoning change should quickly contact the 12th Ward office at ward12@cityofchicago.org or (773) 523-8250.
