Pullman Culver’s Welcomes Crowds to Ribbon-cutting

The long-awaited Pullman Culver’s held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony November 8 with much celebration. Ba-Ron Chicago Burgers LLC/Bar-Pull LLC principals Baron Waller and Ronald Wells welcomed U.S. Representative Robin Kelly, Illinois State Representative Nicholas Smith (34th District), 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale, Rick Silva, Culver’s CEO, Kevin Goldsmith, CCLF Board Member and Program Manager, Community Development Tax Credits Group, JPMorgan Chase, David Doig, CNI Group President, and community members to lunch at the new restaurant.

Newly hired staff members were eager to welcome guests to Pullman Culver’s. The restaurant is expected to bring 70 jobs to area residents.

Known for its “Butter Burgers,” frozen custard and Wisconsin cheese curds, the 4,300-square-foot Pullman Culver’s is situated on once vacant land at 111th and Doty Avenue. Noted as the first stand-alone and casual sit-down dining establishment built in the Pullman and Roseland community in over 30 years, Pullman Culver’s features 124 indoor seats,  patio seating, and a drive-thru lane and window. The site is Baron Waller’s sixth Culver’s location in the city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs. His partner Ronald Wells will serve as the restaurant’s manager.

Chelsi Cicekoglu, CCLF Lending Consultant, Kevin Goldsmith, CCLF Board Member and Program Manager, Community Development Tax Credits Group, JPMorgan Chase and Lycrecia Parks, CCLF Vice President of Portfolio Management, celebrate the first casual sit-down dining establishment built in the Pullman and Roseland community in over 30 years.

“We want to come into our neighborhoods and make an impact,” Waller told the crowds. “And I think bringing jobs will bring some stabilization into those communities.”

CCLF team members (from left) Chelsi Cicekoglu, Lending Consultant, Wendell Harris, Vice President of Lending Operations and Lycrecia Parks, Vice President of Portfolio Management congratulate Baron Waller (second left) on bringing Culver’s to the Pullman Community.

CCLF provided three loans  for Pullman Culver’s totaling $3,653,848, which included a New Markets Tax Credit Structure: $1,463,890 predevelopment and construction loan from JPMorgan Chase New Markets Tax Credit Pullman Investment Fund, $1,477,450 construction loan, and $712,508, equipment loan. The land was acquired from CNI and the restaurant is expected to create 70 jobs.

Pullman Culver’s is located blocks away from the Pullman National Monument, which opened its visitor center in summer 2021. It is also near the CCLF-funded One Eleven Food Hall and 111th Street Gateway Retail Center. “This Culver’s gives families in the neighborhood and visitors to the Monument a place to eat,” Alderman Beale told the gathered crowd. “Culver’s is part of a renaissance in Pullman.”

9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale greets Maurice Williams, CCLF Vice President of Economic Development, before lunch at the newly opened Pullman Culver’s.