April 29, 2008 – A spokesperson for the City of Chicago Department of Buildings says there is no significance to the construction permit status for Dick’s Last Resort, which had been updated daily for weeks, disappearing in late April from the Department’s web site.

Bill McCaffrey will just say there is a “hold” on the permit but it is still being reviewed. Dick’s CEO Steve Schiff could not provide details but indicated information would be available soon.

During the second week of April, out of 12 reviews in its application for a construction permit at Marina City, Dick’s Last Resort was down to just a “Final Data Review.” On April 17, the status of its Planning Review changed from “approved” to “denied” on the Department of Buildings web site. At the time, McCaffrey said he was not aware of the status change and said as far as he knew, only the Final Data Review was left.

The status of Dick’s application was available online as recently as April 22.

Around that time, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly met with officials of Dick’s Last Resort. Policy Director Jeff Riley says the issue is “front and center on the radar” but the next steps for Reilly are “up in the air.”

An article in the Chicago Tribune on April 14 claimed Reilly was planning a meeting “in coming days” between homeowners at Marina City and officials of DLR, but Riley said later that week that details for such a meeting had not been worked out.

A Stop Work Order is still posted on the west side of the commercial tenant space being renovated for the restaurant. Two other permit applications are listed on the Department of Buildings web site, one to install a “double face pole sign within property line to read Dick’s Last Resort.” The other, to install a flat one-sided sign.