Chicago’s South Shore community was once the Gold Coast of the south side. It had everything a middle-class community needed: beautiful homes, a bustling business district, first-rate schools, theaters, beaches for all to enjoy, and of course, the neighborhood gem, the country club.

Now, like so many neighborhoods in Chicago, South Shore is a community that has had some challenges, including crime and gun violence, youth unemployment, inequity in education with the lack of basic amenities.

However, some community residents are out to change South Shore back into the vibrant neighborhood it once was.  Alisa Starks, a Jackson Park Highland resident and CEO of South Shore Commercial Properties, LLC, has big plans for the corner of 71^st and Jeffery Blvd. In the spot where the old ShoreBank once stood, Starks plans to build an entertainment and dining complex. Cinegrill, a seven-screen, dinner/movie cinema with chef-designed cuisine, wines and cocktails and full in-theater meal service will be a main feature of the complex. Odessa’s Kitchen, a fine-casual, Creole-inspired restaurant seating up to 105 in the dining room and bar/lounge areas, also will call the complex home. Two other attractions will include AJ’s, a boutique bowling center and sports lounge with four premium regulation bowling lanes, two pool tables, oversized TV screens to view sports and a place for table games, and Penthouse 71, a special events venue that will accommodate 225 guests for public and private events as well as a rooftop lounge that will seat 85.  

People want to work, shop, dine, and have entertainment in the community where they live. “ICE [Inner City Entertainment] strives to be a catalyst to transform South Shore’s 71st Street business corridor into a vibrant arts, culture, and entertainment district, by bringing quality dining and entertainment, living wage employment for neighboring residents, and numerous contracting opportunities for local minority businesses,” explains Alisa Starks, CEO of South Shore Commercial Properties, LLC.

This project is part of a larger effort to revitalize the 71^st Street Business District within South Shore’s Quality of Life Plan. It’s also an effort to repurpose spaces that have sat vacant for years. like the old Dominick’s grocery store at 71^st and Jeffery Blvd. (across the street). After many years of abandonment, a full-service grocery store came to South Shore thanks to Shop and Save who recognized the need of this community and replaced the old Dominick’s with a new store called Local Market.

South Shore is a historic neighborhood with assets that many other communities don’t have like the beaches, lakefront trails, access to public transportation, solid housing stock, parks, and the amazing South Shore Cultural Center. CCLF is assisting with the South Shore Commercial Properties project by providing a $400K predevelopment loan. Like all community champions in Chicago, CCLF is interested in helping to build vibrant neighborhoods. “A multi-use facility like this in South Shore will be the mainstay of the community and will help usher in other projects of this magnitude,” states, Robert Tucker, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Programs, Chicago Community Loan Fund.  “We can’t wait to see the finished project.”