Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced applications for $220 million more in state Business Interruption Grant (BIG) money, part of Illinois' allocation of federal funds from the CARES Act, will begin on Thursday after the state issued $49 million last month in the first round to business across Illinois.
The 53rd Street Mini Mart may lose up to a quarter of its business and faces layoffs after the City Council passed an ordinance to ban sales of most flavored liquid tobacco products in Chicago, but Alds. Leslie Hairston (5th) and Jeanette Taylor (20th) say the move is the right one for publi…
The Dearborn Denim store on 53rd Street is closing after sales declined around 30% during the coronavirus recession; the target date for the store closure is by Halloween.
A University of Chicago scientist says investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the school, state and federal government could transform Chicagoland and Hyde Park into a global node of quantum research, an emerging, highly applicable field in communications and scientific measu…
Summer may be winding down, but plenty of warm-weather fun is still available.
Earlier this year, West Side native Cheryl Nelson decided to expand her She Fit business beyond Dyer, Indiana, into Chicago, with plans to open fitness studios in South Loop and Hyde Park.
A little more than five months after closing her Vanille outlet in Hyde Park, Sophie Evanoff has partnered with Hyde Park Produce Market to bring her signature pastries back to the neighborhood.
The parking lot nearest to it may be closed, the solstice was seven weeks ago, and 63rd Street Beach is closed, but Reggies on the Beach opened for the 2020 season on Aug. 6.
Bark n Bubbles Doggy Day Spa celebrated held a grand opening ceremony in the Picadilly building at 1433 E. Hyde Park Boulevard on Aug. 1.
Among the 1,500 small and locally owned businesses that got $6.2 million from the city's "Together Now" fund was the Hyde Park Learning Resource Center, which plans to use the money to equip the facility for the pandemic with sanitary supplies, cubicles, outdoor tenting and a new air filtrat…
The city announced an expansion of the Expanded Outdoor Dining Program that will allow bars and taverns to serve liquor on front sidewalks, and all bars and restaurants to serve in outdoor areas that would typically require an Outdoor Patio License.
Hyde Park resident Perteet Spencer and her husband Fred are banking on her Liberian heritage and experience in the food industry as they launch AYO Foods, a line of West African frozen meals.
The Paycheck Protection Program is tied to at least 6,785 jobs at more than 800 businesses and institutions in the area. While money remains in the program, the initial loans, issued in the spring, have largely run their course; recipients face months of recession and pandemic ahead and no g…
Local businesses are preparing for new rules designed to curb the city's increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
SPRINGFIELD — The application deadline is approaching for one of the key programs driving the state’s equity-centric approach to marijuana legalization, and the state is looking to hire hundreds from disadvantaged communities to review those applications.
Hyde Park's proximity to the University of Chicago and the local business climate as reasons why Aziz Rupshi opened a Wingstop chicken wing restaurant here last month, and he says business is thriving.
Applications are open for the University of Chicago Community Program Accelerator's next program cycle, wherein South Side nonprofits are provided with three years of customized capacity-building support.
After a soft opening last Labor Day weekend, Reggies on the Beach, a bar and grill off 63rd Street with ample outdoor dining, cannot open because the city's beaches are still closed.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved tens of millions of dollars in low-interest, forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans to businesses and nonprofits in Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn and Washington Park, enabling up to 6,785 area jobs to be retained.
Silver Room owner Eric Williams explains how he used a combination of his savings and a grant from the University of Chicago to remodel and reopen his store at 1506 E. 53rd St.; Williams’ store had been closed due to pandemic lock down until the last weekend in June.
Discussions between restaurants along 53rd Street, the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) discussing a vehicle road closure to accommodate expanded outdoor dining have stalled.
Hyde Bark, a North Kenwood dog-walking, cat-care and pet-sitting business, has received a $50,000 grant from the city to refurbish a garage into a doggy daycare and boarding facility.
The 61st Street Outdoor Farmers Market opened Saturday morning with new “Covid Era Customer Policies” and practices. Masks are required for entry and pedestrian flow is managed to maintain social distancing.
The tightrope walk between public health and economic reality continues for Hyde Park-Kenwood's restaurants as they begin to offer indoor dining, albeit at just 25% of capacity.
It has been a long time coming, but Ingrid Cheatham has reopened her spa, Posh Lash and Laser, in Hyde Park, eight months after having to leave her previous storefront in the South Loop.
Special Service Area (SSA) 61, the business improvement district branded Downtown Hyde Park, announced a rebate program for businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with free window advertisements also available soon.
Chicago will enter Phase 4 of its pandemic response plan on Friday, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot is allowing restaurant dining rooms to open for the first time since March, albeit with 25% capacity, a maximum of 50 people per room. Tables must be six feet apart with parties of 10 or fewer people.
Some businesses are open but others remain shuttered three weeks after looters stormed two shopping centers in Kenwood and a few targeted stores in Hyde Park.
After receiving the go-ahead from the state legislature and City Council, local bars and restaurants are planning to sell mixed drinks to-go, a boon to an industry that has suffered terribly in the coronavirus shut-down.
Numerous unanswered questions — costs, scheduling, participation and logistics among them — are delaying a decision on whether to close 53rd Street to facilitate outdoor dining.
While many remained closed or only open for takeout, certain Hyde Park restaurants, barbershops, shops and businesses opened with expanded services on June 3, as the city entered the next phase of life amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the protests and violence that have wracked the city in recent days, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday that Chicago will enter Phase 3 of its recovery from the Covid-19 shutdown.
Looters targeted strip malls at 51st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue and 47th Street and Lake Park Avenue early Monday morning, as the mayhem that beset downtown Chicago dispersed out over the Windy City, leaving dazed business owners and volunteers to pick up the pieces and take stock of da…
Anger over the police killing of George Floyd continued to boil over during the weekend, spreading into Hyde Park early Sunday morning and erupting again in the afternoon.
Commissioners approved the 2020 budget for Special Service Area (SSA) 61, or Downtown Hyde Park, on Tuesday, allocating funds for district marketing to support small businesses amid the coronavirus recession.
Outdoor dining will likely be allowed at some point in June, though restaurant owners in Hyde Park say operating under strict public health guidelines will be logistically difficult and hard to pull off financially.
Alds. Sophia King (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th) and Jeanette Taylor (20th) voted for ordinances Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced to protect workers impacted by the pandemic and to extend expired city licenses for businesses into the summer at the May 20 City Council meeting.
The city issued a permit for a new Taco Bell restaurant on 53rd Street on May 13, clearing the way for $150,000 in renovations.
Piccolo Mondo, 1642 E. 56th St., will open its bakery to the public this weekend while maintaining social distancing guidelines.
In the fall of 2006, Aaron Rodriguez felt very disconnected when he enrolled at the University of Chicago, where a small fraction of the student body is Black. So he built a network of friends among people he met on music message boards.
Illinois nursing home workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare union reached an agreement with the Illinois Association of Health Care Facilities, forestalling a strike that would have begun on Friday.
Four years after the planning and engagement processes began, the redevelopment of the Michael Reese site will likely break ground next year and be completed in 2026, with community spaces and 20% of new housing guaranteed affordable alongside a 500,000-square-foot medical research facility …
Rico Nance forgives the two gunmen who robbed his restaurant, the Litehouse Whole Food Grill, on April 29, but it stings that they targeted a successful Black-owned business known for giving free meals to needy people — especially since one of the robbers had availed himself of that generosi…
The Hyde Park Farmers Market has been cancelled for this year, after a unanimous vote of the Special Service Area No. 61 (Downtown Hyde Park) commissioners.
The Hyde Park Bar Louie location, 5500 S. Shore Dr., has closed permanently, according to a sign posted on the door.
Like small businesses everywhere, Trez Pugh's chain of Sip & Savor coffee shops in Bronzeville and Hyde Park have suffered from the coronavirus pandemic. His sales have decreased 65-70%.
The University of Chicago has awarded $112,000 in rent relief and $110,000 in operating grants, $2,500-$7,500 apiece, to commercial tenants who rent from the university's Commercial Real Estate Operations (CREO).
Bill Payne, the Polsky Center's new executive director for science and technology, said the business incubator intends accelerate development with patents and business partnership.
At the beginning of the week, the University of Chicago’s Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) announced a $2 million relief program across nine South Side community areas to help combat the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. By Friday, a university spokesperson told the Herald, the OCE had al…
Soon after taking nonprofit status, the Seminary Co-op Bookstores is in survival mode, attempting to weather the sharp economic downturn and storefront closures expected to wipe out $1 million in revenue through the end of June.
After closing his physical store and holding an initial call with other business owners, Silver Room owner Eric Williams is planning weekly "Connecting Community" meetings every Thursday at 1 p.m. for residents to hear from experts on the evolving coronavirus pandemic and share space togethe…
