Lincoln Avenue Kept Opening Restaurants While the Street Was Closed

"The city of Chicago decided to give us a massive twist. Lincoln Avenue is being shut down until October, but you know, I'm a martini half-full kind of guy." Marty O'Connor, owner of Gunny's Pub, said that in a video posted in late August. He then sipped a drink and tossed the glass over his shoulder onto an empty Lincoln Avenue. His bar had been preparing to open for more than a year. He kept the date anyway.

Gunny's wasn't the only one. Between mid-August and late September, the stretch of Lincoln Avenue around Wrightwood picked up three new places to eat and drink: Gunny's Pub, Beatnik Lincoln Park and Lolo y Lola. All three opened while the road in front of the block was shut to cars. Once the barriers come down, the block will have more places to sit down at than it did in early August.

A Pipe Laid in 1889, and a Closure Approved Two Days Ahead

The Department of Water Management project under this stretch replaces a main installed in 1889. It had broken several times, and it was well past the 80 to 100 years the city gives as a main's typical service life. The project covers about 2,776 feet of 8-inch main. Lead service line replacements and new service connections for properties along the route come after that.

Work began in mid-May without closing the street. Crews then found an underground electric duct where the new main was supposed to go, and the pipe had to move toward the middle of Lincoln Avenue. The city called it an "emergency change." The closure was approved on August 8 and took effect August 10, a Monday. According to Block Club Chicago's reporting, more than 30 businesses found out when they showed up for work that day. Ald. Timmy Knudsen's 43rd Ward office sent its ward-wide newsletter about the closure on August 10, the day it started.

Kim Schilf, president and CEO of the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce, described the chamber's position this way:

"We understand that the work needed to be done, and we're not opposed to the construction. But I think the frustration is that more than 30 businesses were given no notice that Lincoln Avenue was going to close for nearly two months."

The chamber then set up weekly meetings with the project's resident engineer and managers. It asked for door-to-door updates to businesses about upcoming work and put up signs around the construction perimeter asking people to keep coming. In a statement, Knudsen acknowledged the disruption and said the corridor's businesses "will remain open and accessible."

Three Openings Behind the Barricades

Most of the new arrivals sit at the south end, where Lincoln, Sheffield and Wrightwood meet. Gunny's is a few doors north, inside the closed stretch.

Beatnik and Lolo y Lola come from the restaurant group behind Beatnik on the River. Crain's reported on September 4 that this pair is the group's first move into Lincoln Park. Lolo y Lola is the opposite of Beatnik in scale, a small room built around pintxos and Spanish wine right next door. Eater's Lincoln Park guide, updated October 1, already includes it. By September 28, The Infatuation's roundup of new Chicago openings listed all three as open. WTTW's September 21 fall roundup had already counted Lolo y Lola and Gunny's among the neighborhood's recent openings.

The September 16 and 18 dates are the ones the businesses announced ahead of time. No reporting found so far confirms the first night each one actually served guests. Later coverage does confirm that all three were open by the last week of September.

Knudsen's September 11 newsletter pointed readers to Gunny's and Beatnik while both were still getting ready and asked people to shop locally. A week later, his newsletter called Beatnik open and linked to its reservations.

The Block the Newcomers Joined

The three newcomers joined a street that was already full. Block Club's account of the closure lists what was on this stretch in late August:

• Restaurants and bars: Batter & Berries, Juno Sushi, Delilah's, Pat's Pizza & Ristorante, Rose's Lounge
• Shops: Rotofugi, CityHome Vacuums & More, Second Act Cancer Recovery Boutique, plus a 7-Eleven
• Health and fitness: Chicago Chiropractic & Sports Injury Centers, Innovative Primary Care, Jim Karas Intelligent Fitness & Wellness, Lincoln Dental Lounge, Skinovatio Medical Spa

Restaurants could ask regulars to walk over. Appointment-based businesses had a harder time, and Second Act at 2768 N. Lincoln shows why. Owner Pattie Sheehan sees one patient at a time, and many of them are elderly or have limited mobility. They usually arrive by medical transportation, Pace vans or with family who drop them at the door. In the first weeks of construction, about half a dozen patients canceled. "I know the city has to do work," Sheehan told Block Club. Her concern was how to plan for a closure nobody had told her about.

Those visits are the ones that need a car at the door, which is why the parking question still matters after the barricades come down.

Where the Street Stands as of Early October

The reopening date changed several times, and the latest word is still a forecast:

1. August 10: Lincoln Avenue between Wrightwood and Diversey closes to traffic.
2. August 27: The chamber's first estimate has the closure running through October 6.
3. August 28: The city tells Block Club the street should reopen on a concrete base around October 10, weather permitting, with sidewalk and parkway restoration after that.
4. September 25: The chamber reports that NPL, the water department's subcontractor, expects to remove the road closure that Friday.

That last update is the most recent one found, and it describes a plan. If NPL kept to it, traffic would have been back after roughly seven weeks. The same notice says "parking will still be mostly unavailable as they continue restoration and other construction activities." The ward's August 10 alert also listed full-width street resurfacing and repairs to damaged sidewalks and parkways as part of the project, after the lead service line replacements. No published schedule shows when those later steps will be finished.

So on most October evenings, cars may be moving on this stretch again, but there are few places to park. The surface is likely to be temporary for a while, and crews may still be working near the curb. The chamber's construction page has been the most frequently updated source on the project and says the chamber will post more updates as the work goes on.

An October Evening on the Wrightwood End

The south end of the block will also host the neighborhood's next big gathering. Lincoln Park Wine Fest runs October 9 through 11 at Jonquil Park, 1001 W. Wrightwood Ave. The organizer says this is the festival's 10th year. The park sits near the same Wrightwood corner where Beatnik and Lolo y Lola just opened. That puts a weekend of tastings beside two new dining rooms and a new pub, a few doors up a street that was fenced off in September.

From the Wrightwood corner, you can walk the whole new stretch north to Diversey on foot, with no parking to look for. The route starts at the Lolo y Lola bar and the Beatnik dining room, passes Gunny's at 2642, and continues past Batter & Berries, Pat's and Rotofugi before Lincoln meets Diversey. Beneath it all, water now runs through a main installed this year in place of one from 1889.

If you own on this block, or anywhere nearby, and want to know how a street project like this might show up the next time you lease, sell or buy, our team tracks Lincoln Park block by block. Reach out to Jake Tasharski and we'll go through the corridor with you.