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Credit: Kelly Bauer/Block Club Chicago

CHICAGO — The Double Door is expected to open in its new Uptown location in August.

The music venue, a Wicker Park mainstay for 24 years, is headed to the Wilson Avenue Theater, 1050 W. Wilson Ave., as Ald. James Cappleman (46th) announced over the weekend.

And the new Double Door could open as soon as August, Cappleman’s chief of staff, Tressa Feher, said on Tuesday.

Uptown getting the Double Door “means a lot” for the area, Feher said. The theater already has a sign proclaiming itself the “future home of the brand new” Double Door.

At its new location, the Double Door will be close to the Red Line’s Wilson Station and near larger venues like the Aragon Ballroom, Riviera and Uptown Theatre.

“The other Uptown concert venues have a much larger capacity than 1050 W. Wilson, so having the Double Door at that location will meet the need for a smaller music venue,” Cappleman wrote in a Tuesday newsletter to residents. “This business will provide job opportunities for residents and also will be a boon for area restaurants.”

Credit: Kelly Bauer/Block Club Chicago

The Double Door was evicted from its longtime home at 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. in February 2017 after an 18-month battle with landlord Brian Strauss.

Around the time of the eviction, Double Door co-owners Sean Mulroney and Joe Shanahan vowed that the club would live on.

“The [Double Door] brand is still alive, and that’s where we are at this point. I hope to have it bigger than that shortly,” Mulroney said last year. 

The building was purchased by  Cedar Street Companies, the developer behind the FLATS Chicago, in 2013 for $625,000.

At the time, Cedar Street said it wanted a “a unique tenant that not only respects the grandeur of the space, but also adds value to the Uptown community.” 

As for the former Double Door in Wicker Park — Texas-based cooler and outdoor accessories maker Yeti will be opening a store there.

Mulroney and Shanahan have not responded to multiple requests for comment about the move, nor has Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) who had vowed to keep the venue in Wicker Park. 

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