Ann Sather Is Moving Down Broadway, and Every Space It Leaves Already Has Someone Waiting

Two or three years ago, Marvin Barsky asked Tom Tunney to take over Stella's Diner. Tunney turned him down. "I don't need a restaurant at Broadway and Barry. I have one at Broadway and Roscoe. Why would I want both?" Tunney told CBS Chicago.

This fall he took the space anyway, and the reason explains more about Lakeview East than the menu change does. Along Broadway and Belmont this year, lease terms and redevelopment have been moving the neighborhood's longest-running names from one address to another. In each case, the space they leave already has its next occupant lined up.

Why Tunney Changed His Mind

The chain starts on Belmont Avenue. Ann Sather ran its flagship at 909 W. Belmont Ave., on a block where the restaurant had operated since 1945. In March, Block Club Chicago reported that the building was going to a five-story apartment project from Mavrek Development.

According to CBS Chicago, Tunney had told the landlords at his other restaurants around the time of the pandemic that he would go month-to-month at all of them after selling his Belmont property. That arrangement mattered once the flagship closed. His landlord at 3415 N. Broadway came to him because the veterinary business next door wanted to expand and was ready to sign a 10- to 15-year lease. The landlord asked Tunney to think about leaving the Broadway and Roscoe space and gave him time to decide.

If both the Belmont flagship and the Roscoe location closed, Lakeview would have had no Ann Sather at all, so Tunney negotiated for the Stella's space.

The Chain, Address by Address

Here is how the dominoes line up across about a mile of East Lakeview:

1. 909 W. Belmont Ave. The Ann Sather flagship has closed and the building has been demolished. Belmora, the second 46-unit phase of the development, is going up on the spot where Ann Sather stood.
2. 1819 W. Division St. The flagship moved to West Town, into the former Yolk space. Tunney promises "a complete restoration of what looks like Belmont on Division," down to the stenciling, artwork and chandeliers.
3. 3415 N. Broadway. Ann Sather has served Broadway and Roscoe for 30 years. This location is set to close shortly before the new one opens, and the neighboring veterinary business will expand into it.
4. 3042 N. Broadway. The former Stella's Diner at Barry Avenue, about half a mile south, is where Ann Sather has signed a lease to open this fall.
5. 3107 N. Broadway. The Bagel, across the street from the old Stella's, stays put under Barsky, who chose to focus on the deli rather than run two restaurants.

Tunney has sold the move as a step up for the Lakeview location. "This is a little bigger, with bigger outdoor seating," he told Block Club Chicago in August, and he said renovations would take a few months. He told the Chicago Sun-Times he was hoping for an October opening, but he has not announced a firm date. Since Roscoe is supposed to close only shortly before Barry opens, the handoff should be quick. For the next few weeks, check before heading out for cinnamon rolls.

Belmont Has Done This Before

The Belmont block has been reshuffling Ann Sather for decades. CBS Chicago traced the restaurant's path along the south side of Belmont between the L tracks and Clark Street:

Accounts of the first address differ. Block Club Chicago's March report places the 1945 opening at 929 W. Belmont, while CBS Chicago puts it at 935. Both agree that 909 was the last stop on the block, and Block Club reported in August that the flagship had moved out earlier this year.

The 2007 move started with a developer's pitch. After the developer asked about putting a Panera Bread at 909 W. Belmont and the two sides talked for about 18 months, Tunney proposed that the developer buy the former funeral home and pay him to move down the street to 909, which he also owned.

Belmora is the current version. Just east of the old flagship, a 46-apartment building is going up where a two-story brown brick building once held The Gallery Bookstore, Belmont Army Vintage and other shops. CBS Chicago describes that building as nearly identical to the one Ann Sather occupied. The ground-floor tenant is already announced. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Foxtrot is returning to Lakeview at 917 W. Belmont, in Belmora's second phase. The first phase, at 919 W. Belmont, was expected to open this fall, and Foxtrot is expected next year.

Down the Street, the Same Handoff

Broadway shows the same pattern a few blocks south of Barry. Royal Home Entertainment closed on Saturday, Oct. 17, after 55 years. Brothers Joe and John DeGuide opened the first version of the shop on Wilson Avenue in May 1971, moved it to Addison and Broadway in 1973, and settled at 2923 N. Broadway in 1980, according to Block Club Chicago. Over those decades the shop went from records and tapes to movie rentals, then to repairs, home entertainment systems and custom installations. Plenty of customers knew the owner as "Joe Royal."

The storefront already has a likely successor. DeGuide expects a stationery, office-supply and gift shop to move in, though no opening date has been announced.

Two doors up, the block has already added something new. Hooley Market is open at 2947 N. Broadway as a specialty food and gift shop focused on better-for-you products and gifts. The 44th Ward's July 9 newsletter listed it as open. A gift and pantry shop at 2947 next to a planned stationery shop at 2923 points this stretch of Broadway toward browsing and small gifts, where a single electronics counter used to be.

Across from the new Ann Sather, the oldest continuous story on this part of Broadway is Stella's. It opened in 1962 as The Wheel-A-Round, became The Lakefront Diner, and took the name Stella's Diner after the founders' children, Maria and Gus, took over and named it for their mother. Barsky bought it in 2021. When it closed this year, the diner had been in business for 64 years. Barsky told Block Club Chicago the sale had been negotiated over months, and he is putting his energy into The Bagel, including a planned second location in downtown Glenview.

Where to Be on Broadway and Belmont Through December

While the new Ann Sather gets ready, the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce calendar keeps the corridor busy:

• Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. Replay Lakeview hosts a pumpkin-carving and dog-costume contest.
• Saturday, Oct. 24, 4 to 6 p.m. Dance on Broadway, at 3126 N. Broadway, holds a children's Halloween dance party a block from the old Stella's corner.
• Sunday, Oct. 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Stolen Saddle runs its Howl-A-Ween dog market and costume contest.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The chamber's Little Monster Crawl brings participating businesses together along Broadway, Belmont and Clark.
• Nov. 1 through Dec. 21. The chamber's Giver's Gift promotion gives a $50 neighborhood gift card for qualifying local-shopping receipts.
• Sunday, Nov. 22, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The West Lakeview Tree Lighting is held at Lincoln and Wellington, a short trip west of Broadway.

Giver's Gift starts just as the new businesses on Broadway are getting going. Receipts from Hooley Market, The Bagel and, once it opens, the Ann Sather at Barry all come from the same stretch of the street.

Tunney put it this way to Block Club Chicago: "We have a lot of goodwill in Lakeview." In practice, that goodwill now has a new address at Broadway and Barry, the Roscoe space goes to the vet clinic next door, and Foxtrot is set to anchor the ground floor where the Belmont flagship stood.

If you live on one of these blocks and want to know how a new anchor down the street could change the way your home should be shown, Clare Sells Homes can walk the corridor with you. Request a Free Home Valuation & Staging Consult, and Clare will tell you what's opening near you and how to put it to work in your listing.