Sept. 26--Mayor Rahm Emanuel's $100 million Riverwalk expansion project runs like a live wire of new economic energy through the heart of downtown Chicago, attracting locals and tourists to its walkways and restaurants.
Given its importance in the mayor's plans for boosting recreational offerings and bringing more corporate headquarters here, it should be no surprise that Emanuel has taken a personal interest in the nuts and bolts of the grand opening this year -- down to which trash receptacles are overflowing.
"I have heard, 'He was down there today and he didn't like the garbage in one particular area,'" said Michelle Woods, the city's project manager for the Riverwalk.
And when it came to picking bars and restaurants, the focus was on quickly finding big names to fill the retail spaces along the Chicago River.
The head of the Illinois Restaurant Association said Emanuel called him to discuss the possibility of bringing together iconic Chicago spots and upscale national names.
"He wanted to make sure we were engaging with celebrity chefs and community restaurants," said Sam Toia, president of the association, who added that Emanuel has made similar calls about attracting restaurants to places such as Midway Airport. "He wants to make sure the entire culinary scene is represented."
Proposals were due in early March to fill the space, including the newest section that opened between State and LaSalle streets this year. Would-be concessionaires were told they would be weighed by an evaluation committee using a point system.
According to city paperwork, points were to be awarded based on the idea itself, its environmental impact, the experience of the operators and what the city would be compensated. The committee's recommendations went to David Reynolds, the commissioner for the Fleet and Facility Management Department, for a final decision.
The city did not provide the full list of applicants or their evaluations by the city.
Woods acknowledged she invited some high-profile establishments to consider the opportunity before the evaluation committee made its recommendations but said Emanuel did not recommend any specific bars or restaurants.
"But I have a feeling I'd be hearing about it if he did not like what was happening," she said.
The mayor's office played down its role in recruiting establishments. "Neither the Mayor nor the Mayor's office had any role in selecting vendors, and we were briefed after the selection process," Emanuel's office said in a statement.
One of those recruited by Woods was City Winery, which has operated on Randolph Street for several years. The upscale New York-based restaurant group with outposts in Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Napa, Calif., hadn't been considering a Riverwalk location, said Rita Chen, the Chicago marketing director.
"I was made aware of it by the city," Chen said.
Woods said she recruited City Winery to break up the emphasis on venues selling beer. She said she also reached out to Goose Island Beer Co., which did not seek a spot on the Riverwalk.
The operators of the Hideout bar had expected to be part of the grand opening along the water in late May, but their original plan to partner with Lagunitas Brewing didn't work out.
The Hideout eventually got a former storage space at an elbow in the Riverwalk to the east of State Street and the Vietnam memorial. It opened in August under a 30-day agreement, Woods said.
Co-owner Tim Tuten said he visited the new sections of the Riverwalk on a cold February day along with others who responded to the city's request for proposals from potential restaurant operators. Throughout the process, Tuten said, it was communicated in ways big and small that the mayor was very interested in what would be happening and which tenants would be included at the Riverwalk.
"That was resonated down here," Tuten said. "He wanted to get this going and have it be exciting. We're happy and we were lucky to be a part of it."
The Hideout has stayed true to its dive-bar roots in the new space, with Tuten even mounting a cracked sailfish above the counter that once hung above the stage at the original location on Wabansia Avenue. The cracks came from a time when it came lose and fell on a drummer midshow, he said.
The original version of the porch/bar in the Riverwalk space, 24 feet wide just like the front of the Wabansia Hideout, included wood planks from beer pallets. But they weren't up to fire code, Tuten said, so they all had to come down.
In the few weeks since the Hideout's opening, Tuten has hosted tourists from Toronto to Miami, as well as from overseas. A boisterous party from Germany spent quite a bit of time there on a recent afternoon.
"I had been ready for more locals," he said, "people who have been to the Hideout who would come and see this and say, 'Cool, I'll have a PBR.'"
The co-owner of the new Flander's Belgian Beer Fries, Dan Reynolds, said he talked to Woods after watching the Riverwalk construction from Dick's Last Resort, the restaurant he manages on the north side of the river.
"I just thought it was a cool project," Reynolds said.
Flander's came together quickly after Reynolds got his idea from a recent visit to New York, where he saw a place serving pommes frites. But the available space was only 8 feet deep, so the chosen concept needed to be performed in a compact area.
Not long after getting the ventless fryer he needed to work in the small space, "I'm opening at the beginning of June," he said.
Separate revenue-sharing agreements were negotiated with each Riverwalk vendor, Woods said, with a goal of the city receiving enough money to repay the federal loan used to build the extension and to cover upkeep. The city has not provided the contracts.
The next phase of the full project, which will wrap the Riverwalk around the south bend of the river to Lake Street, is expected to come online for the 2017 season.
It's unclear how much revenue the new section of the Riverwalk will bring in this season, as there is more than a month remaining before the businesses there shutter for the winter. But the Chicago Park District, which previously operated the Riverwalk, reported that in 2014 O'Brien's Riverwalk Cafe, a pioneering venue along the water, had revenue of $629,725.
All of the Riverwalk licensees will be required to resubmit bids to get space during the 2016 season, Woods said. Tuten, Chen and Reynolds all said their businesses would seek to return for another season.
"Going forward and seeing the success (this year), we're going to have much more competitive bids," Woods said.
jcoen@tribune.com
