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Dick’s Last Resort opens at Marina City
31-Oct-08 – It could not possibly have been a more arduous journey from River East, but Dick’s Last Resort quietly opened at Marina City at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. “It was a soft opening. We did not publicize it,” said CEO Steve Schiff. Liquor licenses from both city and state authorities arrived in time for the Dallas-based restaurant/bar to open by the weekend. Other licenses and certificates, to serve food and have live entertainment, had already been obtained. Dick’s applied for a liquor license last November, and had received conditional approval in January, but they had to have the actual paper license in order to open. “We had a lot of time to get ready,” said CFO Christy Zirnheld. Storms earlier in the year in Illinois and along the Gulf Coast kept Commonwealth Edison too busy for awhile to hook up electricity in the tenant space. But there were plenty of other obstacles A River East neighbor since 1988, Dick’s was moving to get away from increased congestion in the area and to be closer to major hotels and convention facilities. What attracted them most to the space at Marina City were the river, view of downtown, and access to River North. On September 19, 2007, representatives of Dick’s Last Resort gave a presentation to residents of Marina City, describing their vision for transforming the southwest corner of the commercial platform. The last time the long-vacant space was used was for a steak house operated by Johnny Lattner, a Chicago native who won the Heisman Trophy in 1953. It was Lattner’s second restaurant. The first one burned down in 1968. The fire also destroyed his Heisman Trophy but it was replaced and went on to sit at the piano bar at the Marina City location. The new tenant was not as lucky. Residential property manager David Gantt wrote to the commercial property owner, LaSalle Hotel Properties, on October 12, outlining concerns he had that included potential noise, security, pollution, and architectural integrity. The biggest concern was that noise from the restaurant would escape through the overhead doors on the south wall and reverberate along the river. Gantt warned that neighborhood residents would “storm the local alderman’s office” demanding a clamp down of entertainment businesses in the neighborhood. According to Chief Operating Officer Michael Barnello, LaSalle discussed the concerns with Dick’s CEO Steve Schiff. In his October 25 letter back to Gantt, Barnello described in detail how the concerns would be addressed. He pointed out the proposed arrangement was similar to Dick’s River East location, which had “happily coexisted with neighbors directly across their front door for years.”
(Above) The area in the top photo as it looked three months ago. Stop Work Order creates tension at Marina City By February 2008, the tenant space had been cleared in preparation for construction. Unfortunately for Dick’s, a building inspector happened by as a general contractor was doing demolition work and coring through concrete to put plumbing. This resulted in a Stop Work Order that was posted on February 22. Said Schiff later, “The architect and [general contractor] regret the issue but see it as no big deal. Once stopped, none of our contractors have been onto the site.” Schiff says he called residential property manager Gantt to discuss “misinformation” attributed to him. Gantt had claimed at the March 20 meeting of the Marina Towers Condominium Association board of directors that construction work had been done in the tenant space even after the Stop Work Order was posted. According to Schiff, those workers were hired by the commercial property manager and had the proper permit. There was a valve – installed on a natural gas line as part of the renovation – that was removed by Peoples Gas, saying it was “perfectly safe” but unauthorized. This alarmed Gantt enough to say at the March 20 board meeting that it was “kind of a scary situation and luckily the building did not have to be evacuated.” Schiff said the valve was installed by commercial management with, again, the proper permit. Anticipating a possible conflict with commercial property management over Dick’s Last Resort, MTCA was working on a contingency plan to create a meeting room on the 20th floor in case Transwestern Commercial Services cancelled its lease of the meeting room on the concourse level. At the March 20 board meeting, Gantt said he would request proposals for creating the space “just in case we get into a fight with Transwestern over Dick’s Last Resort.” And then there was the alderman. During the week of April 21, officials of Dick’s Last Resort met with Jeff Riley, Policy Director for 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly. They discussed noise concerns and that led the discussion to the overhead “garage doors” that would separate the indoor dining area from the outdoor dining area. Although Dick’s would not budge on the design, they did agree to close the doors every day at 8:00 p.m. There was a difference of opinion on how much Dick’s was cooperating with neighborhood residents. Meeting with Marina City Online on September 22, Alderman Reilly described a frustrating lack of cooperation by Dick’s Last Resort that conflicted with accounts by executives of the Dallas-based restaurant chain. “I have been trying to get Dick’s Last Resort to behave as a good neighbor and address some of the residential concerns with them moving into the building,” said Reilly. “As alderman, I can’t dictate who landlords lease their properties to. However, I do have a responsibility to the residents of Marina City to make sure that this new neighbor is respectful as possible.” Dick’s CEO Steve Schiff said at the time, “We look forward to working with the residents on issues, events and being good neighbors.” Chicago Tribune joins the fray 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 Dick’s Last Resort, to work out a compromise. Later that week, Riley told Marina City Online that details for such a meeting had not been worked out. The meeting never happened. According to the Chicago Tribune article, titled “Dick’s Last Resort’s interest in Marina Towers has condo owners circling the wagons,” more than 100 residents – which would represent a small fraction of the population – signed a petition objecting to the restaurant/bar moving into the complex. Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin declared, “Residents of Marina City…are banding together to fight an architecturally-disruptive incursion from Dick’s Last Resort, the in-your-face restaurant chain.” The feeling at Marina City, however, was that most of the objections were coming from the condo association board of directors, and not residents. Still, the design was toned down from original specs. Finishes would conform to the complex. A brick color at the entrance was changed to stone that resembled the building color. The entrance location would remain close to where residents entered the building, but the look was softened. On Thursday, May 15, Dick’s passed all drawing reviews, the Stop Work Order was lifted, and a construction permit was issued by the City of Chicago Department of Buildings. At the time, Dick’s was planning to be open in June. On May 21, Dick’s Last Resort released a floor plan – designed by Kurtz Associates, an architectural firm based in Des Plaines, Illinois – that offered a clearer picture of how the restaurant would utilize the tenant space. They also had a photograph of the type of “garage doors” that would be used. Dick’s spearheads landmarking, perhaps unintentionally Following the failed attempt to block Dick’s from moving its restaurant and bar to Marina City, a renewed effort to seek official landmark status was led by officers of Marina Towers Condominium Association. On June 16, Lisa DiChiera, Advocacy Director of Landmarks Illinois, said, “It’s no secret that a lot of people have become interested in [landmarking Marina City] because of Dick’s Last Resort. If this building had already been a City of Chicago landmark, then all of that exterior work would have been more closely reviewed by the city from an aesthetic standpoint.” A milestone was reached in late July when a portion of the south wall was moved back about eight feet to create an outdoor patio. Aluminum and glass panel doors were installed on the south wall. The three eight-foot-wide retractable doors now led to an eight-foot-deep patio that would accommodate nine tables. Company officials, who now thought they’d be opening in late August, were coming to Marina City every other week but stepped up the schedule as they got closer to opening. On a typical day, roughly 30 local construction workers were busy transforming the southwest corner of the commercial platform into the latest outpost in Dick’s Dallas-based empire. On October 27, it was clear to everyone that Dick’s would finally – more than a year after announcing the project and after spending an estimated $2.5 million – open its Marina City location by this weekend. A sign on a door at Marina City said they would open in October 2008 and advised people to “bring money.” The old Dick’s location in Chicago’s River East area closed for the last time on Saturday night, October 25. Tables from the old location were set up at Marina City and a small staff, including Schiff and company CFO Christy Zirnheld, were busy with final preparations. Half-page newspaper ads, designed by Mentler Creative Marketing Services of suburban Dallas, started appearing, saying Dick’s was “moving the mayhem to Marina City.”
It was generally agreed that it was a good turnout for the first night. General Manager Albert Shelton (left in photo above with CEO Steve Schiff) says there has been “a great response from residents” and Dick’s is still planning some sort of special event for residents in early November. Dick’s served both supporters and critics, including residential property manager Gantt, who sat with real estate lawyer John Leonard, husband of MTCA president Donna Leonard. And at 7:15 p.m., just as the band was starting to play, the garage doors were shut.
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