For those of you familiar with Gold Coast of Chicago, you may remember the Esquire Theater. The stretch on Oak St. from Rush St. to Michigan Ave. has always been known to be a key fashion destination right off the Magnificent Mile, housing Prada, Versace, and others.
Recently Del Frisco’s Steakhouse moved into the 2nd floor space that was the Esquire Theatre, at 58-68 east Oak St., and now other designers are jumping in on the newly renovated building.
Dolce and Gabbana has now signed on to lease a 3,200 square foot space of the 1st floor from DRW Holdings LLC, a Chicago based company. Likewise Caroline Herrera followed suit by leasing the space in the adjacent building, 70-104 east Oak St., also managed by DWR.
Paul Zucker, principal at City Real Estate Inc., also based in Chicago said that the Dolce & Gabbana and Carolina Herrera deals fit squarely within Oak Street's long history as one of the city's choice locations for boutique fashion tenants.
Rents on Michigan Ave are said to be around $500 a square foot on a ground level shop. DRW is said to be asking about $300 as of last year, so one can see the draw of more designers to that block.
We all know that shopping can work up an appetite, and Del Frisco’s was definitely one to break the mold when they opened around the corner from the Rush St. row of restaurants, like Gibsons and Tavern On Rush; and with one restaurant comes another.
Fig & Olive Inc. will be the newest addition to the 2nd and 3rd floor spaces next to steakhouse. They chose the location banking on the notion that the area is saturated by female shoppers. A spokesman for the company said that over 70% of their clientele is female.
“We kind of fell in love with the location and the street,” said another representative of the company, and added, “The restaurant is expected to open next spring.”
Fig & Olive has expanded to 5 restaurants in New York City and Southern California, but so far not in the Midwest. Their cuisine focuses on Spanish, French and Italian coastal Mediterranean fare. From small plates to lunch and dinner portions, the dish getting the most attention seems to be their $19 hamburger. One must ask; Do you get frites with that?
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