Proposed Hyde Park High Rise May Be Bagged By Grocer

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January 6, 2009 - Plans for a new Hyde Park development may have to be put on hold due to a lawsuit filed by the owner of the Village Foods grocery, which is the lone holdout still in residence at the building site. Antheus Capital LLC, based in NJ, bought the property where the Village Center is located back in 2005 with the intent of tearing down the shopping center and constructing a new one along with a 24 story Chicago condo high-rise. Antheus managed to come to an amicable agreement with all tenants regarding leases except for Village Foods. Now the Chicago real estate project could be at least temporarily bagged by the grocer, according to Crain’s.

The current lease that Village Foods holds is in effect through 2013. The store has been in business there since 1965 and occupies about 17,000 square feet of space. The main points of contention are loss of business during the demolition and rebuilding process and that the developer intends to limit the grocery’s parking lot to accommodate less than 70 cars.

Antheus had planned to first tear down the building at 1523 East Hyde Park. This would remove the beverage and produce section of Village Foods, according to the article. The next phase would be demolishing the main grocery building on 1521 E Hyde Park. The two building development would have consisted of the 24 story condo tower that would hold 150 units along with the roughly 116,000 square foot retail portion.

Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects designed this project for Antheus, along with the 28 story, 147 unit Solstice on the Park which is currently being marketed in Hyde Park. Antheus hasn’t won city approval for the Village Center project yet, and with opposition from the grocery plus the slow condo market right now, Solstice may be the only Chicago New Construction Condos in the neighborhood for a while.

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