The Company That Closed X-Sport Gym Is Finally Opening a Nicer One in the Same Space

819 S. State, the 2nd floor gym space with an entrance at the base of the condo building (seen in the picture) is going to be a gym again.

Club Studio is moving in. What Now Chicago found the listing, and Mr. South Loop, who has had his eye on that storefront since last fall, says the same thing. Construction has started. No opening date yet.

Here is the part that got us. Club Studio is a Fitness International brand, and Fitness International owns LA Fitness. XSport had that space for years and closed not long after its chain got folded into LA Fitness. So by a circuitous route, the company that emptied the space is the company filling it back up, this time with a Pilates reformer studio, cryotherapy and cardio trampolines.

We are not complaining. That is a big dark retail space on a block that needs people walking past it.

Source credit: Reporting from What Now Chicago and Mr. South Loop.

Three Belugas Have Died at the Shedd in Two Weeks

As a follow-up from our post last week, it's sad to say that three beluga whales have died at the Shedd in about two weeks, and two of them died on the same day.

Rain, a 20 year old female who came down from Marineland in Canada in mid August, and Beethoven, a 34 year old male from the Shedd's own resident pod, both died Wednesday. Peekachu, 23, also a Marineland rescue, died about a week before that.

If you have not been following: Marineland shut down, and ten of its belugas were moved here across three trips, the last one on September 1. The Shedd says it will take time to get concrete answers about what led to the deaths, and that it is watching the rest of the pod around the clock.

Not everybody is willing to wait for the answers. Lori Marino of the Whale Sanctuary Project called the three deaths shocking and horrifying.

Here is a video from NBC 5 Chicago on the topic:

Source credit: Reporting from CBS Chicago, NBC 5 Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The City Just Told Reserv (744 S. Dearborn) to Stop

Block Club Chicago reported Tuesday that the city has hit Reserv, the sports bar at 744 S. Dearborn, with a cease-and-desist order, and that a license hearing has been set. Per Block Club, the order came after another large fight at the bar.

If you live on that stretch of Dearborn, none of this is news to you. Back in July the Sun-Times reported Reserv was facing eviction over roughly $45,800 in unpaid rent going back to March, with former bartenders and servers saying they were owed wages. CBS Chicago was out on the corner of Dearborn and Polk later that month, where neighbors said the music ran until 2am and the place felt less like a neighborhood spot and more like a club. Owner Gerald Joseph told CBS it was his dream project, and that he was doing everything he could to be a friendly neighbor.

A cease-and-desist is a different weight class than a noise complaint.

We are not rooting for another dark storefront at Dearborn and Polk. Printers Row has enough of those. We are also not the ones trying to sleep above it.

If you are on that block: has it actually gotten quieter, or is this the first you are hearing about any of it?

Source credit: Block Club Chicago on the cease-and-desist order. Earlier reporting from the Chicago Sun-Times and CBS Chicago.

Both Illinois Senators Now Want Answers About the Proposed 14th Street Rail Yard Move from South Loop to Bridgeport

The 14th Street rail yard story keeps not being about the 14th Street rail yard.

Quick recap. Amtrak wants to move its maintenance operation off the 47 acres along the river near 14th, which is the land Justin Ishbia has been circling for a (rumored) ballpark. The replacement would go up in Bridgeport, on Canal between 33rd and 35th: four stories, running 24 hours, roughly $900 million, with about $600 million of federal money behind it. The developer is Canal Edge LLC. That is Ishbia too.

This week Bridgeport neighbors pushed back hard. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth asked the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak to actually explain the thing to the people who will live next to it. Ald. Nicole Lee said the speed of it is a thousand percent alarming.

Worth remembering on our side of the river: none of our 47 acres clear until theirs does.

CBS Chicago and NBC 5 both have the details:

Is this a fair trade? Tell us in the comments.