Friday, February 18, 2005

Family Dollar Joins DevCorp North Vision

Grand Opening - Where is the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony ?
Dollar Store_13
The plastic banner says it all on the plywood facade. Grand Opening Sale

DevCorp North is happy they followed one of their government funded programs, The Facade Rebate program. The Facade Rebate Program works two ways, according to DevCorp North's website. Businesses can go with the Boarded Up style or the tried and true, Iron Gated Bars?

Family Dollar at the Old Osco spot chooses the un-treated, plywood boarded up version with a yellow, red and black Grand Opening Sale banner, draped to the left of center.

Thus keeping up with the style, character and vision DevCorp North strives to maintain.

Family Dollar also retains the "No Parking" signs from the Osco design, keeping in tune with the neighborhood charm of not being able to park.

Marc Wagner, one of Kevin O'Neil's, CAPS Beat 2431 loyal  soldiers explained at a Beat 2431 meeting, "there is just no where to park around here. Breaking ranks a bit he also said in Kevin's censored Yahoo Groups Board, "Frankly Kevin I am a little disappointed with you here. This was in regards to passing out fliers to businesses on Morse Avenue. A flier I posted on the website here.
Wanted
But wait, the Alderman must speak. What's a Grand Opening with a polictical proclamation?

"The discount store [Family Dollar] that will occupy part of the Osco site is not exactly some cheap 'Ma and Pa' dollar store, as Roeder implies. Rather, it is one of the fastest growing retail chains in the nation, much akin to a modern-day Woolworth's or Ben Franklin.''

Alderman Joe Moore
August 11, 2004
Chicago Sun-Times

This is the Grand Opening and we must celebrate, where are the balloons, clown's and ribbon cutting?

6 comments:

Toni said...

This is real? This is a 'vision'?
Dollar $tores are a thorn, I'll spend my $ at Lincolnwood Mall, downtown or Lincoln Park.

How are we supposed to rise above the bad press of Rogers Park with board ups, dollar stores and cheap junk?

Charlie Didrickson said...

How are we supposed to rise above the bad press of Rogers Park with board ups, dollar stores and cheap junk?
# posted by Toni : 8:58 PM

You are creating this bad press!

Hugh said...

You seem very concerned about bad press. Most of us are more concerned about crime.

Charlie Didrickson said...

Well.......some of us are equally concerned about both.

Ask 100 people accross this city there first impression of Rogers Park.

Here are some likely responses......Is it safe? My response is always the same. Everyone has there own comfort level in terms of safety. If your moving from Iowa,it might be a little scary, if your moving from Lawndale it might seem like the North Shore.

Where is Rogers Park? I think I heard about it on the news one night.

My first apartment was in RP but I left because there were not many choices in places to enjoy eat/drink/nightlife.

Is the Heartland Cafe still there?

How cool that you live so close to the lake.

I had a cousin who was really in to the Greatful Dead who lived there. (past tense)

How come everyone from Rogers Park is so defensive about their neighborhood?

BECAUSE WE FREEKING CARE ABOUT OUR HOOD. THE ALDERMAN,TONI,CRAIG,RPCAN,DEVCORP NORTH,MAYNARD,SANDY,MJ,KATIE HOGAN,THE GUY WHO HAS BEEN HANGING OUT AT ENNUI FOR 10 YEARS EVERYDAY,HELEN,FAMILY MATTERS,ME YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO SIMPLY REFUSES TO GIVE UP. SOME OF US PUT IN OUR TIME,SOME OF US OUR MONEY,SOME OUR INFLUENCE,SOME JUST YELL AND SCREAM A LOT.

That is the "Heart" of Rogers Park

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hugh said...

Why did the Osco Drugs on Morse get replaced with a dollar store? Why didn't another drug store move in? Because Jewel-Osco wanted to leave, but they didn't want another drug store to move in. When Jewels sold the Osco store on Morse to a developer, they added a restrictive covenent to the deed, prohibiting drug stores.

"The Property (or any part thereof) hereby conveyed shall not be used or occupied as a retail drug store ..."

Special Warranty Deed (local copy) selling 1425 W Morse (PIN 11-32-116-028)
from Jetco Properties, Inc (Jewel Tea Company)
to Novhan/Morse LLC (real estate mogul George Novogroder),
August 19, 2004
Cook County Recorder of Deeds document number 0424427151
http://ccrd.info

Hugh said...

Osco didn't leave, they moved. They moved because they were lured out of our neighborhood by an Evanston TIF.

A TIF (Tax Increment Financing) facilitated our loosing a drug store on Morse. Evanston used the property taxes of the future collected in their Howard-Hartrey TIF to subsidize the development of the strip mall on the Evanston side of Howard Street just east of the river. (This is the mall with the Target, Best Buy, and Office Max). Jewel-Osco's restrictive covenant on the 1425 W Morse property goes on to say:

"This deed restriction shall be a burden on the Property hereby conveyed, shall run with the land, and shall be for the benefit of:

(A) Grantor and its succesors, assigns and affiliates; and

(B) the property located at 2485 Howard, Evanston"

Property tax subsidies were used to replace a pedestrian-friendly, public transportation accessible urban neighborhood drug store in east Rogers Park with a automobile-friendly suburban strip mall drug store two miles away. To protect their investment in a TIF-subsidized, new construction build-out, Jewel-Osco prevented a drug store from going in on Morse after they left.

Poison the earth behind you as you retreat.

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