PORTAGE PARK — The owners of Fischman Public House are shutting down the bar for good this weekend, saying stalled developments at Six Corners contributed to its closure.
The announcement came in a lengthy Facebook post Thursday night. In it, owners Gus and Shanna Karamaniolas announced the Portage Park bar will serve its last customers from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday as they face eviction.
Their post also called out freshman Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th) for slowing down projects in the neighborhood that could have brought in more customers.
“The simplest way of saying this is that Gus and I got in way over our heads,” the post began. “We took out a much larger loan than we anticipated, and the high monthly payment cannot be paid with the little business that we have. We have amazing regulars (some old and some new), but we cannot solely rely on them to sustain every small business in the neighborhood. If you take anything away from this outpour of honesty, please let it be that you MUST support local businesses.”
In an interview Friday morning, Gus Karamaniolas said they were counting on development in the Six Corners area to be moving by now.
“It just sucks. You know?” Gus Karamaniolas said. “We had everything invested into this. If you rewind to when we first opened here there were a lot of wheels in motion about the future of Six Corners.”
The owners signed a lease in 2016 to move the business from a location near the intersection of Lawrence and Milwaukee to 4058 N. Milwaukee Ave. in the Six Corners business district.
The new location officially opened in 2018.
Gus Karamaniolas said they banked on the long-promised developments at the former Sears and former Bank Of America in the business corridor to help the bar and other local businesses thrive.
“Even before you get people living or working out of those developments, the construction workers coming to the area [would’ve come in] to eat and drink after their shift,” Gus Karamaniolas said.
The owners took out a large loan to build out the space and can no longer cover the high monthly cost with the revenue coming in. They put their own home of 16 years up as “collateral” for the business, and now will be losing that property, too.
“Just so you know how much we put on the line, it was confirmed last week that we will lose our home over all of this,” the Facebook post read. “…We trusted so much that Six Corners would be developed that we confidently, and idiotically, put our house down as collateral and now we are losing it because of those foolish assumptions.”
As 2020 is set to begin, it’s still unclear when crews will break ground on either of the major developments pitched at Six Corners, which is why he said it didn’t make sense to try and keep the business open any longer.
Fischman’s Facebook post criticized Gardiner’s role in the struggles at Six Corners.
“In 2016, we signed our lease in hopes that Fischmans would be an anchor at Six Corners. We hoped that the theatre would be rebuilt, and that new development would be well on its way. Here we are, approaching 2020, and projects that we were anxiously and desperately waiting for have been rejected – and, with no explanation. We are a small business, so we have the right to know why projects are being turned down in a neighborhood that we have put EVERYTHING on the line for. It’s basically a big middle finger to the small businesses here at Six Corners. Go door-knocking and have your secret meetings, but listen, it’s the small businesses that you should be listening to — our voice matters! The small businesses are the ones that deal with your constituents daily. We know them better than you have or ever will. It’s a loss for any Alderman to not build an honest and open relationship with the small businesses in his community. Yes, Mr. Alderman, we’re talking to you! We have spoke to other business owners, our community and WE hear them – why don’t you?”
Developers behind the Point at Six Corners, a $130 million project in the works since 2014, aim to bring an Aldi store and 10-story senior housing complex to the intersection of Cicero Avenue, Milwaukee Avenue and Irving Park Road at Six Corners. But Gardiner announced he was rejecting the latest Point plan in September, asking the developer to go back to the drawing board.
In October, frustrated business owners and neighbors protested Gardiner’s decision.
Earlier this month, developers presented plans for the redevelopment of the former Sears at Six Corners. At that meeting, neighbors said they were worried Gardiner would stall the Sears development like he did The Point development across the street.
In the interview Friday, Gus Karamaniolas said he couldn’t wait for the Six Corners projects to move forward.
“Right now you have Ald. Jim Gardiner not even slamming the brakes but putting development projects into reverse. It just slows everything down for the area,” Gus Karamaniolas said. “My honest opinion is that even after that latest presentation about the future of the former Sears, well they aren’t going to breaking ground on something like that for at least five or six years from now. And that’s if Gardiner is for it.”
Gardiner’s office was not immediately available to respond to a request for comment Friday.
Read the full Facebook announcement below:
Here’s our truth:
The simplest way of saying this is that Gus and I got in way over our heads. We took out a much larger loan than we anticipated, and the high monthly payment cannot be paid with the little business that we have. We have amazing regulars (some old and some new), but we cannot solely rely on them to sustain every small business in the neighborhood. If you take anything away from this outpour of honesty, please let it be that you MUST support local businesses. If you move to a new neighborhood, support the small businesses that also support your schools, sports, police stations and Alderman.
There are a lot of nasty rumors going around about Fischmans (from one Gossip Queen in particular), but one is true – we are being evicted. Our previous landlord gave us a very nice break on our rent for a few months (they felt bad for us because of the lack of development and the situation at the theatre). However, when the new landlord took over, he did not grant us that same break and demanded that we pay back the difference for the months we had paid at a discounted rate as well as an electricity bill that the previous landlord was paying. Contrary to what some might say, we have paid our rent every month (except for December because we chose to give the last of our money to our staff for their pay) and have documentation to prove it.
In 2016, we signed our lease in hopes that Fischmans would be an anchor at Six Corners. We hoped that the theatre would be rebuilt, and that new development would be well on its way. Here we are, approaching 2020, and projects that we were anxiously and desperately waiting for have been rejected – and, with no explanation. We are a small business, so we have the right to know why projects are being turned down in a neighborhood that we have put EVERYTHING on the line for. It’s basically a big middle finger to the small businesses here at Six Corners. Go door-knocking and have your secret meetings, but listen, it’s the small businesses that you should be listening to – our voice matters! The small businesses are the ones that deal with your constituents daily. We know them better than you have or ever will. It’s a loss for any Alderman to not build an honest and open relationship with the small businesses in his community. Yes, Mr. Alderman, we’re talking to you! We have spoke to other business owners, our community and WE hear them – why don’t you?
Just so you know how much we put on the line, it was confirmed last week that we will lose our home over all of this. It was our first home together and the home that our boys were raised in for 16 years. We trusted so much that Six Corners would be developed that we confidently, and idiotically, put our house down as collateral and now we are losing it because of those foolish assumptions. You see, Gus and I are your average next-door neighbors. We didn’t come to Six Corners with a ton of cash, or investors, but instead, did this on our own with the little money we had saved. We maxed out all our credit cards to try to stay afloat while construction dragged out. We couldn’t work full time jobs while opening a business, and not to mention, places wouldn’t hire us because they knew we wouldn’t be working their long (except for our friends @ Rockwell’s – we owe you!) Every obstacle that we hit along the way required more and more money. We had no one else to ask – except the bank, and guess what? They gave us the money! Sadly, those empty storefronts across the street will not soon be rented out. No one has the money to gut those neglected businesses, and we were naïve and ignorant to do so.
We have staff that have been with us since day one. Devoted staff that have been dealt the blow of losing their jobs at Christmas. Staff that believed in us and stuck by our sides while making such little money on quiet nights (which were not infrequent). Gus and I couldn’t be prouder of the family we have created at Fischmans over the past 24 years going back to our old location.
To those who believed in us – our regulars, our friends, our staff and our family – words can never express the gratitude and love we have for each of you. Please know that we were 100% invested and committed to being in Six Corners for a very long time. If you would like to send us a private message on Facebook, we welcome it! Please continue to support our friends at local businesses. Check-in, Share and invite your neighbors and family out to local events in the neighborhood. #STAYLOCAL
We would like to enjoy our last holiday season in our home and reading any negativity about a business that we gave everything up for will be extremely disheartening. If you decide to share this post, let’s start a new trend and TURN OFF COMMENTS if you can. We understand that you cannot disable comments on pages & groups.
Lastly:
To our Current Mayor and our local politicians: Let this failed dream of ours be a reason why you take away aldermanic privileges. Stop giving building owners a tax break on their empty and rotting storefronts. When an event venue with the potential of huge revenue for the surrounding small businesses doesn’t open and does nothing to start development, DO something! We don’t need to raise taxes all across the city, but instead, need to work on rebuilding what foundation we already have and growing the potential revenue that lies therein.
Last weekend hours:
Friday 11am- 1:00am
Saturday 11am- 3:00pm
Sunday 11am- 4:00pm
Thank you for the years of memories, much love to you all.
S&G
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