A demolition permit was issued January 8 to tear down the former Danny’s Tavern building and its detached garage at 1951 West Dickens Avenue in the Bucktown neighborhood. According to Block Club Chicago, the bar closed during the COVID pandemic and the property went up for sale in 2021. The two-story, 1898-built edifice was purchased this past November for $821,000 by a Blue Island developer.
Site context of 1951 West Dickens Avenue in Bucktown, via Google Maps
B&K Concrete 1 is the demolition contractor named in the permit, at a reported cost of $18,000, and it appears they are also the new property owner. Their Blue Island business address is the same as that of the owner listed on the permit, Dickens Gold LLC, which is also the property’s buyer as named in real estate records. A pending permit for new construction on the site names 2702 Greenview LLC as the property owner, and that’s another entity registered at the same Blue Island address.
Danny’s Tavern closed in 2020. Photo by Daniel Schell
The permit to build anew on the site has been pending in the Chicago Data Portal since June of last year. It calls for a four-story plus basement, three-unit building designed by Hanna Architects. That lower level will include two parking spaces, and there will also be a detached garage, though its number of spaces is not specified. The residential building will have a rooftop deck and stair enclosure, plus rear porches on all four floors. A roof deck for the garage is not mentioned, nor is a general contractor for the build.
This masonry garage in the back will also be demolished. Image via Google Street View
The presence of three units across five levels would indicate these will be for-sale condos featuring one duplex-down, a simplex unit on the second floor, and a duplex-up occupying the two upper stories, though that is not a certainty. It would also stand to reason if these are indeed condos, the rooftop deck would be for the private use of the duplex-up occupants.
Local transit options, via Google Maps
A timeline for demolition has not been made public, and new construction will not begin until the pending permit has been issued by the city.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
The buying real estate agent is listed as Konrad Dabrowski who is a principal at DG Advisors; they do development in Bucktown and vicinity and use Hanna repeatedly. The 821k price makes sense – the top floor duplex could go for around 1.5M. Maybe a slight discount for North facing but otherwise a sweet location in Bucktown. The redevelopment would require rezoning and the process might not be quite done yet since the sale happened less than a year ago. I’m sure the neighbors would not have objected.
It wasn’t a great location for a bar considering it is off the main stretch of Damen.
Adding three-units in a four-story + basement is a nice density improvement.
Give me a neighborhood bar instead of a bar on the main stretch every day of the week.
Bite your tongue, Danny’s was a great bar with a ton of character that had a good long run.
I’ll admit, this one had me a bit NIMBY. RIP Danny’s