For whatever reason, the very few places aorund the Cell dont thrive. You would think that the few places serving 1.8 mill, would be killing it, but they dont. Maybe its the clientelle?

Going to say Cork is the most succesful bar by The Cell and its really nothing....and is a new venture, so unproven. The biggest Sox bar was Jimbos and that was a complete shithole.

Its almost amazing that a baseball stadium has almost zero effect on the businesses in the area. That hot dog stand does pretty well I assume on 35th? congrats

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

bars go out of business all the time near Wrigley

That one across from 7-11 has seen a handful of owners in the past decade

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The way things are set up at Sox Park it's designed to get people in and out of there. I'm not sure if that's the way the neighbors want it or if it's the way Jerry wants it. In any case, they don't seem to have constant battles with residents. And they don't need to send crackheads out with brooms to sweep up Armour Square Park.

Also, there is the crazy notion that the neighborhood is somehow "dangerous" and people are frightened to leave the parking lots. The last time I paid to park at a Sox game was when there was the rock lot on 33rd and I only did that because it was super convenient, right next to Jimbo's, and only cost a fin. That's a basic rule I have. I don't pay to park in my hometown.

Finally, the real shithole is Cork at the Park. It's like a Wrigleyville douche bar in Bridgeport. The only reason I ever stop in there would be if my guy Joe from Shinnick's is working a shift.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

1. The bar across from 7-11 is owned by the same DBag it has been for years. He just keeps redoing deals. he wants to collect money from owning a bar, but doesnt want to run a bar. Pretty sure the places in site of Wrigley have been there for a few years now. Sluggers, Cubby Bear, Sports Corner, Bernies, Murphy's...and then a slew of others in the past 20 years like Yakzees, Casey Morans, Nissei,Barleycorn...there will always be turnover of some places.

2. JORR, what do you mean Comiskular isnt designed the way Jerry wants it? With people coming in and out? He designed it and has modified it mutiple times. Wont even comment on the area.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I didn't say that. I said it's designed to sweep people in and then whisk them out without any neighborhood interaction. I'm not sure if Jerry set it up that way so he doesn't have Wrigley-style issues with the neighbors or what. It certainly can't be a money issue, because they bum rush you out of the Bullpen Bar in the rudest way possible. The newer ChiSox thing or whatever it's called now stays open longer, but it's not like the Sox are really trying to keep people spending money there. It's really set up to get people back on the expressways.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Let me rephrase. I understand Jerry has set it up, but I'm not sure what his motivation is. Is it because the neighbors prefer it that way and he is trying to avoid headaches? Maybe Peeps could speak to this. It sure doesn't seem to be helping the White Sox.

But as I've said many times and repeatedly told my ticket rep, I don't believe the Sox know who their fans are or what they want. They give you these surveys and ask all the wrong questions.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

JR is a fucking moron. Survey the same 10,000 losers who like to eat shit on a daily basis. What kind of answers do you expect?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I dont think Jerry gave a shit about the neighorhood and still doesnt, he has passed on tons of solid and better ideas than his thinktank has come up with....but when you have Brooks Boyer, you have the best in the business!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Well, I don't think he gives a shit about it except in so far as it affects him. I don't think anyone wants to fight the type of battles the Cubs have to fight just to make a small change. And that's with a bunch of transients who have lived there for a few years. There are third generation families living in homes near the ballpark in Bridgeport. There's no advantage in antagonizing those people.

But I don't understand why Jimbo could barely have a sidewalk cafe and he was constantly worried about people standing up out there and now Cork has taken over and sometimes it looks like fucking Bourbon Street with people spilling onto 33rd with drinks in their hands and there doesn't seem to be an issue. I can only surmise that it's some neighborhood politics to which I am not privy.

If I had Boyer's job, the first thing I would do is move away from the "family friendly" stuff. I would extend beer sales to the end of the game. (I believe the limits are self-imposed rather than an ordinance.) Maybe turn FUNdamentals into a bar during night games. Appeal to the savages. Save the family shit for Sundays.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The old Comiskey days.

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Elections have consequences.

Neither of JR stadiums have done much for their neighborhoods. The Bulls are finally doing a little something with their basketball center.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Does Jerry still have a say in what goes on with the Bull, or is it all Michael's show these days?

Thats because it essentially touches what is the new neighborhood and they want to do a ton more than what they have done.

Honoring the hand shake agreement with McCuddys wouldnt be the worst idea.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Nope. The Bertuccis have more juice than Pudi Senese ever did.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

...but as you said, if they are going to kick the people out after games, why not have a place that just enhances the area in which your team plays. Its a short sided view. Are yous cared that you might not get 200 beer drinkers that day?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I agree. That's why I ask about Jerry's motivations. He doesn't seem to be benefiting from his approach to separating his ballpark from its neighborhood.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

_________________
Kenny Williams fell for the banana in the tailpipe

If the Sox want to keep their location 3 mi south of Roosevelt adjacent to the red line they would be wise not to piss off the neighborhood. That's what they get out of the parking lot buffer zone. The handful of frugal people who park up by 31st walking through the neighborhood is about their limit for gameday foot traffic.

They just open that land up and people get very pissed, very quickly and before you know they're playing out in Tinley Park in front of half the people they get now.

Was there anybody less sympathetic (other than Chet) who got punched in the face?

That's of course if one believes the "Huge" one's story was true.

When the park opened the people in he neighborhood absolutely didn't want any spillover. Huels relayed the concerns and it got through.

It's different now. People do want to capitalize on what Sox traffic there is.

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Via Crain's

Rickettses buy three more Wrigley rooftops, unveil new ticket site

The owners of the Chicago Cubs will control more than half of the rooftop business buildings across the street from Wrigley Field after buying three more properties this week.

Greystone Sheffield Holdings, a Chicago-based venture owned by the Ricketts family, has purchased the Beyond the Ivy rooftop buildings at 1010 and 1038 W. Waveland Ave., as well as the Sky Lounge Wrigley Rooftop at 1048 W. Waveland beyond the left-field bleachers, a family spokesman has confirmed.

Purchase prices of the buildings were not immediately available through the Cook County records website, but the previous owner was an entity owned by local real estate investor Donal Barry, Cook County records show.

Barry bought the property at 1038 W. Waveland for $1 million in 2004—close to the same time the Cubs signed 20-year revenue-sharing agreements with rooftop property owners—and took out a nearly $6 million loan against the property in 2006, according to county records.

It's the latest strategic move in a long-running effort by Cubs ownership to take over the rooftop market after fighting with rooftop owners over the team's right to put up outfield signage that blocks some of their views into the ballpark.

The revenue-sharing contracts allow rooftop owners to sell tickets to fans to watch games from their buildings in exchange for paying the team 17 percent of their pretax revenues. Those rooftops were collectively generating about $2.5 million in ticket revenue annually for the team. But Cubs management and rooftop owners have been at odds over pricing discounts in recent seasons when the team has struggled on the field and at the gate.

A RUN OF PURCHASES

Adding the new properties brings the family's portfolio to nine of the 16 rooftop venues along Sheffield and Waveland avenues, all of which have been acquired in the past 13 months.

In January 2015, the Rickettses' venture bought the property at 3639 N. Sheffield Ave. for $4.2 million from former rooftop business owner Jim Lourgos. Days later, the family paid $1.65 million and $1.35 million respectively to acquire the rooftop buildings at 1032 W. Waveland and 3643 N. Sheffield from George Loukas, who also owns the Cubby Bear bar across the street from Wrigley Field.

Then in May, the Cubs owners bought the buildings at 3617, 3619 and 3637 N. Sheffield for undisclosed prices from a venture managed by Chicago commercial real estate investor Jerry Lasky.

The family also has a financial stake in Down the Line Rooftop at 3621 N. Sheffield, where it is suing for the right to buy the building in full.

With the most recent acquisitions, only six rooftop venues remain completely out of the Rickettses' hands. Those include Murphy's Bleachers rooftop beyond the center field scoreboard, the Sports Corner rooftop at 3609 N. Sheffield, two rooftop buildings beyond the left-field foul pole and Lakeview Baseball Club and Skybox on Sheffield, whose owner unsuccessfully sued the Cubs over their addition of a right-field board last year.

That lawsuit argued that the team's new 2,250-square-foot video board in right field violated terms of the rooftops' revenue-sharing agreement, but a federal judge dismissed the complaint late last year.

NEW TICKET-SELLING SITE

The timing of the purchases couldn't be better for the Cubs owners. Establishing the family's dominance in the rooftop market comes amid a tremendous resurgence by the team on the field.

Demand for Cubs tickets skyrocketed last year during a 97-win regular season and a run to the National League Championship Series. Las Vegas oddsmakers have pegged the team as the favorite to win the 2016 World Series.

Looking to capitalize on that popularity and its newly acquired rooftops, the Cubs owners today relaunched WrigleyRooftops.com, a site that will showcase the nine Ricketts-owned rooftops as well as the Loukas-owned Sports Corner rooftop together.

Designed as an online starting point for fans seeking rooftop seats, the revamped site includes a 3-D map of the rooftop properties and 360-degree views from the seats atop each unit, as well as amenities and real-time ticket availability.

The cheapest tickets, which include all-you-can-eat-and-drink packages, start at $65 per person and will be priced higher based on the time of the season and magnitude of the series.

Each rooftop holds up to 200 people, and all of them will be operated and marketed by Sheffield-Waveland Rooftops, a management company owned by the Loukas family and run by George Loukas' kids, Nick and Stacey.

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Fuck those rooftop scumbags (unless they own the Cubs).

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The timing would have been better when the team sucked...

_________________

I have a question. It might be stupid. But they always say "Rickets buys 3 more rooftops". So he now owns 9 out of the 16 rooftops. They never say he bought the buildings.

When they say that, do they just mean he bought the rooftop business? He hasn't bought the buildings, right?

Do you know what a synecdoche is?

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Yes. Ok. Fine. So when they say "rooftops" it means the building. But aren't some of those buildings apartments. So now Ricketts is a landlord? What are all of those buildings used for besides the 82 games where people are on the rooftops?

Pretty sure people haven't actually lived in those in awhile.

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They are apartments that people live in, or at least most of them are. . I am sure he has a real estate management company handling the apartments. The family initially tried to purchase the buildings shortly after buying the team. But the owners were not real interested in selling after having sewn up a 20 year agreement on revenue sharing with the team. They thought the team couldn't build the bleachers out as far as they did, put in the scoreboards they did, but after some litigation and time has passed, they learned they were not negotiating from a position of strength and have accepted the offers made to them finally. I am interested to see how the Ricketts family uses all these buildings. I doubt they only intend to use them in the same manner they have till now. I bet there is a much grander scale purpose for the properties. As with the team on the field.....there is a plan.

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Go Cubs!!!!

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way