Months of COVID-19 restrictions killed sales on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, but will repeat rioting finally kill business?
The Magnificent Mile, one the world's most well-known and fashionable shopping areas, sparkles in the heart of downtown Chicago. The 13-block strip boasts some of the finest mix of five-star hotels, condos, restaurants, sightseeing, and about 460 stores, drawing both city and tourist traffic to a beautiful downtown built around the Chicago River.
But mass looting in May and August have taken a toll, possibly one more severe than COVID-19 restrictions.
Nearly every aspect of the intertwined economy that once twinkled with prosperity is changing: the resident population, tourism, shopping and hotels.
In the August round of rioting, at least 200 stores were looted — many for the second time in three months — by mobs of young people who weren't burning down their own neighborhoods and instead traveled downtown to loot, according to the Chicago Tribune. One owner of a smaller business reported that looters took everything, including the soap in the bathrooms. The Chicago Tribune also reported that one restaurant was able to open the next day because in May they purchased plywood to cover their windows for the next riot. New protocols, he said.
But how do tourists and city residents, who patronize these shops and restaurants, respond? They stay away. In the aftermath of the looting, foot traffic in the Magnificent Mile was down 70 percent.
In a July letter to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the president of a large property management company wrote that across the city, residents are "avoiding neighborhood walks after 6:00 p.m….[do not] dare to enjoy their outdoor balconies…local parks and playgrounds have been inhabited with litter, vandalism, and crime." Shootings were up 35 percent year over year in August.
One real estate agent, quoted in Crain's Chicago Business, reported a "shocking volume" of calls from city residents who no longer think the city is safe.
Chicago's famed jazz and blues clubs have been hit, but it's the anti-riot curfew that shuts down their businesses. At least in the short-term, the city entertainment scene will be impacted.
Meanwhile, commercial space and retail is changing.
Some speculate that stores will remodel without windows that can be smashed during looting, which they expect to continue.
In online forums, commercial real estate professionals have said that the vacancy rate at the Magnificent Mile was quietly increasing — a once unimaginable prospect for an area that leased for about $650 per square foot. Macy's is considering leaving its 170,000 square foot store at Water Tower Place — no surprise, considering the company's ongoing financial difficulties.
Crain's reported that smaller firms with staffs under 20, all of whom have been working from home, are reconsidering their leased office space due to both COVID-19, and safety concerns.
One Chicago alderman cautioned city officials that they must establish security to preserve the city's tax base.
