GLADSTONE PARK — A plan to turn a long-vacant building on Milwaukee Avenue into an "upscale" liquor store has neighbors worried the store's opening would create a nuisance in their Gladstone Park neighborhood.

Pradeep Patel, who owns six liquor stores across Chicago, has the support of Ald. John Arena (45th) to open a new "boutique" liquor store at 5636 N. Milwaukee Ave. to sell a variety of "high-end" wines and craft beers.

"It would be a small store, a boutique store that will attract a lot of business," Patel said. "It will be a good addition to the community, an upscale store and an example to other liquor stores."

Heather Cherone explains how a liquor license is yet another issue splitting two familiar foes in an aldermanic race:

But neighbors of the proposed store near Milwaukee and Marmora avenues are concerned that its opening would mean a return to the days when their neighborhood was plagued by noise, litter and crime caused by a nearby convenience store that sold liquor and a bar whose patrons disrupted their sleep and peace of mind.

April Warner, who has lived in the house directly behind the one-story building slated to become 4th Octave Wine and Sprits for nearly 17 years, was one of 43 Gladstone Park residents who signed a letter urging the city Zoning Board of Appeals to reject a special-use permit for the store.

"We just don't want to return to all that," Warner said. "We're trying to raise families here. We don't need yet another store that sells liquor."

Patel said his record at his other liquor stores proves the neighbors have no reason to worry.

"There is always an impression that the liquor store will be a detriment to the community," Patel said. "My job is to convince the board that I will provide a different kind of liquor store and it won't create a nuisance for the community."

The zoning board delayed a decision on the permit for the store until September because Patel was not present at the July 18 meeting, officials said. Patel said he was on vacation.

If the zoning board issues the permit, Patel will apply for a liquor license.

Arena authored a measure to ban most liquor stores from opening in the majority of 45th Ward's business districts. The measure gives residents a tool to block unwanted liquor stores and convenience stores from opening near their homes, said Owen Brugh, Arena's chief of staff.

But the alderman included two exemptions in the moratorium to allow Patel's store and a convenience store in a shopping mall a few blocks away to get liquor licenses.

The alderman supports the proposed store because it would fill a long-vacant 1,600-square-foot building in the Gladstone Park Business District and Patel's record in other parts of the city proves he can operate a liquor store that will benefit the community, Brugh said.

The store would be open from 10 a.m.-11 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays.

Warner said she went door-to-door after the first community meeting on the proposed liquor store to let her neighbors know about the issue and asked Chicago Police Lt. John Garrido, who is also a lawyer, to draft a letter opposing the special use permit.

"I don't know how you would make sure nothing would happen," Warner said. "We're scared, and we're not going to stand by."

Rose Mary Bobor, who has lived in Gladstone Park for 42 years and attended the zoning meeting to oppose the store, said she was concerned that a plan to build protected bicycle lanes along Milwaukee Avenue in Gladstone Park that would reduce on-street parking by 20 percent would force patrons of the store to park in front of her home.

"We just don't need this," Bobor said.

Garrido, who lost to Arena by 30 votes in the 2011 aldermanic election, plans to run again in February's election.

"This is not political," Garrido said. "I live four blocks from the liquor store."

Joe Diciaula, 47, said a more family-friendly business should take over the one-story building.

"I don't want a liquor store there," Diciaula said.

After the zoning board hearing, Arena met with Garrido and four other Gladstone Park residents opposed to the store, and agreed to take their concerns under advisement, Brugh said.

"It started off tense, but it ended on a pretty good note," Garrido said.

The alderman agreed to meet with the group again before the zoning board meeting rescheduled for Sept. 19, and asked them to come up with a plan that would make the liquor store acceptable to the community, including fences and additional landscaping that could shield nearby homes, Brugh said.

The design of the store may be "beautiful," but it is another liquor store in an area that is heavily saturated with places to buy booze, Garrido said.

"There has to be a middle ground," Garrido said.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: