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UPTOWN — The Holiday Club is hoping to stay in its longtime Uptown home as its building is slated to be turned into a seven-story apartment complex.
The building at the northwest corner of Irving Park and Sheridan roads is the site of a proposed development that would bring 92 apartments and 36 parking spaces to the border of Uptown and Lakeview.
That development would replace Holiday Club’s existing building plus apartments and storefronts containing El Palmar restaurant and Roots Smoke & Vapor Shop, 4006 N. Sheridan Rd. The future of those businesses is in doubt due to the development proposal.
Holiday Club’s co-owner, Sonny Domingo, said he is hoping there is room in the proposed development for his business, but that has yet to be assured.
“We hope we’re going to be part of the plans, but we don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re working with the owner and developer to learn what the next steps are. We don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”
It is unclear if any retail space will be included in the proposed building, which still needs city approval. The public notice for the proposed development does not mention ground-floor retail. The developer, Catapult Real Estate Solutions, is asking the city’s permission to have “residential uses” in the building’s first floor, which is a request some developers make to include apartments instead of commercial space at the street level.
For now, it will be business as usual for Holiday Club, the retro-themed bar and popular late night spot that has been open for 30 years. That’s what Domingo is telling the customers and neighbors who increasingly are asking about the fate of the business as news of the proposed development spread.
“We’re as concerned as everyone else,” Domingo said about his business.
Credit: Flickr/Jason PettusPublic notices were recently posted for the proposed development at 4000 N. Sheridan Road.
The seven-story, 92-unit building can be built under the property’s current zoning, but the developer is asking the city’s permission to include residential uses on the ground floor and to include less than the standard one-to-one unit-to-parking-space ratio.
Catapult Real Estate Solutions is also asking the city’s permission to include less than the normally required number of truck loading zones, according to the public notice.
Those requests will go in front of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals, said Anna Gaebler, director of neighborhood services for Ald. Angela Clay (46th). The development does not need Clay’s or City Council’s approval because it does not require a changing of the underlying zoning designation.
Because it does not require a zoning change, the development would not be mandated to include affordable units within the building.
Catapult Real Estate Solutions and its attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Holiday Club opened in Wicker Park in 1993 before later moving to Uptown and becoming one of the area’s most popular late-night hangs. It’s known for its Rat Pack theme and dance floor that plays ’90s and other retro music.
The business came under fire in 2018, when co-owner Peter Malek’s anti-immigrant social media posts and a photo of him wearing what appeared to be a Nazi-linked patch on his motorcycle jacket went viral. Malek has since severed ties with the business.
Holiday Club’s lawyers are working with the development team on how to move forward, Domingo said. It is unknown when the project could start or when tenants of the existing building would need to leave for the project, if it is approved.
Domingo cited the Ace Hardware just south of Irving Park on Sheridan Road, which was long-slated for redevelopment but stuck around for years after a redevelopment was proposed. Ace then returned to the newly built structure.
Domingo hopes a similar fate is in the cards for Holiday Club.
“It’s still early,” Domingo said.
One block north of the Holiday Club site, a developer is working to turn a mini-strip mall on Sheridan Road into 32 apartments.
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