In Crain’s Chicago Business this week there’s a story about the empty parcel of land at Broadway/Wellington where there Dominick’s used to be. You know, before it burned down last year. Turns out the Dominick family owns the land but at present does not wish to sell the land to Dominick’s Inc., the actual grocery store business, so that it can be rebuilt. They (Dominick’s Inc.) WANTS to rebuild. But there’s speculation the family is holding out for a potentially-very-lucrative offer along the lines of a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. But they also haven’t ruled out selling the land to a condo developer (!) Because, yes, WE NEED MORE CONDOS IN LAKEVIEW! WE NEED MORE DOUBLE-WIDE STROLLERS CLOGGING THE SIDEWALKS and WE NEED MORE FACELESS, UGLY HIGH-RISE ARCHITECTURE! After all, there are already other grocery stores several agonizing blocks away … certainly NO PROBLEM for anyone without an SUV.

Alderman Tom Tunney is taking a hard-line stance against any residential developement on the site, at least according to the article. He wants a grocery store rebuilt, and he wants it to fit in with the prevalent low-rise structures on Broadway.

The bottom line is it’s gonnna at least be another year before anything happens. And so, Andy and I will continue using peapod.com