photo: Bloomberg

The Southeast corner of Division and Honore used to be the location of the Miller Lumber site. But Miller Lumber was sold and demolished to make way for a residential building with 2 restaurants initially being planned by Smithfield LLC (the project's developer) and Lettuce Entertain You.

Those plans never came to fruition and the Smithfield construction site has been in flux for almost 2 years. Crain's Chicago Business, is reporting that Trader Joe's is now planning to open its 6th store at 1815 W. Division Street and is currently working to overcome some of the hurdles of opening a grocery store in this location. First, if Trader Joe's plans on selling beer and wine, a liquor moratorium which runs on the south side of Division Street from Wood to Hoyne will need to be lifted by Alderman Moreno. State law also restricts the sale of alcohol near schools. LaSalle II Magnet Elementary School is just west of the Smithfield site.

The lease is not yet finalized and additional plans, like parking - and possibly rezoning- need to be addressed in such a dense area. So the deal isn't close to being done (sorry). But Trader Joe's is definitely working to investigate the potential of a store in Wicker Park.





Trader Joe's Plans Store in Wicker Park [Crain's Chicago Business]