Shakedowns alleged at West Side food desert
move to the 27th of Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. with the city’s remap. Fioretti said the threats infuriated him and that he hosted a meeting Monday to make certain Pete’s is back on track.
Fioretti has championed the project and noted that Dremonas has committed to hiring local residents and to exceeding city standards for using minority- and women-owned firms on the construction. The project is expected to account for 200 construction jobs and another 200 permanent retail positions.
The $18 million store will span 55,000 square feet and include another 11,000 square feet for other retailers. Dremonas paid $1.1 million for the city land, a price well below appraisals, but did not seek other subsidies.
Those who descended on the site “are people not from the immediate community,” Fioretti said.
Burnett said he had a staff member on site for one of the incidents because Pete’s called and requested his help. While Burnett backs the development, he said he’s deferring to Fioretti on matters pertaining to the city.
Several people, including Burnett, identified a local activist as a ringleader of the group that confronted the construction crews. I’m not identifying him because I could not reach him for his side.
The activist and supporters “go and agitate people in the community about black jobs,” Burnett said. “They don’t care about black people getting jobs. They are nothing but extortionists.”
None of this would be happening if an entrepreneur didn’t want to invest in a part of town others ignore. Pete’s is a nine-store chain Dremonas built from a produce stand in the 1970s, breaking off chunks of a market once owned by Jewel and Dominick’s.
Does he regret venturing into the West Side? “That’s not a discussion we’ve had,” Zemenides said. “I’ll say this: He’s not happy about this kind of reception considering he’s making an eight-figure commitment to the neighborhood.”
Shakedowns, extortion or whatnot, that kind of pressure is applied to a lot of developers around here. Most cases don’t come to light; proposals either meekly get quashed or a deal is worked out. It’s like a street tax, which may be one reason why more business doesn’t get done in areas that need it the most.
David Roeder reports on real estate at 6:22 p.m. Thursdays on WBBM-AM (780) and WBBM-FM (105.9). The reports are repeated at 10:22 p.m. Thursday and 7:22 a.m. Sunday.
With a showdown vote looming as early as next week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel punted Tuesday when asked to choose between saving Prentice Women’s Hospital and tearing it down to make way for a biomedical research center.
Instead of choosing between the clout-heavy forces of Northwestern University and preservationists who want to save the hospital building designed by renowned architect Bertrand Goldberg, Emanuel talked about finding common ground.
The mayor said he met last week with Streeterville residents, leaders of the Streeterville Organization for Active Residents (SOAR), the local chamber of commerce and Michigan Avenue merchants.
Friday’s meeting “completed the conversations I’ve had with architects and also with Northwestern [University] and Northwestern Hospital,” Emanuel said.
“I’ve taken the recommendations of the neighborhood back to Northwestern and to the architects. It is part of a conversation that [needs to take place]. I want to see all the parties work together,” Emanuel said.
“I thought the neighborhood individuals and organizations had good recommendations that I will now take to Northwestern as well as to the architects and see if they can be addressing those.”