If the brand new chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee wasn’t a millionaire already, he positive is now — instances 10.
Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) disclosed Tuesday that he’s promoting the dear land on the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue that homes his Ann Sather Restaurant to Tim Glascott, an actual property investor and proprietor of Glascott Saloon.
The “extended lease-back arrangement” requires the Ann Sather at 909 W. Belmont Ave. to “continue to operate uninterrupted for the next 10 years, along with its parking lot in the back.”
Tunney’s further eating places at 3415 N. Broadway and 1147 W. Granville Ave. are already leased and can stay open as nicely.
After shedding out to Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) in a bid to turn into Finance Committee chairman, Tunney gained the comfort prize. Mayor Lori Lightfoot selected him to chair the City Council’s Zoning Committee. That’s a job held for years by disgraced former Ald. Danny Solis (25th), who spent two years sporting a wire serving to the feds construct their corruption case towards indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14th) after Solis was confronted with proof of his personal alleged wrongdoing.
Approaching his 40th 12 months as a restaurant proprietor, Tunney mentioned he determined to money out, partly, due to his new obligations.
“I’m at a point in my life where I want to simplify. I’ve got a lot of risk involved in owning all of that real estate and running the restaurants and chairman of Zoning. I don’t need all of this responsibility. It’s time for me to start unwinding my real estate,” Tunney informed the Chicago Sun-Times.
After the 10-year lease-back interval is over, Glascott could be free to redevelop the property close to the CTA’s Belmont station with a five- or six-story constructing — perhaps extra — beneath a so-called “transit-oriented development” bonus.
The land at the moment has a zoning classification of B3-3, the alderman mentioned. There are “no zoning changes and no zoning contingencies” tied to the sale, Tunney mentioned.
Glascott couldn’t be reached for remark. The sale/lease-back association was first disclosed by Crain’s Chicago Business.
“It’s not developable for the period that I’m leasing there because it’s impossible …. You can’t do anything with a two-story building when half the site is a parking lot,” Tunney mentioned.
“After ten years, if they kick me out as a lessee, they have an ability to redevelop under the zoning …. Congestion belongs in a transit-oriented development. That’s the whole purpose of that. Less parking higher density … . But that’s not gonna happen for many, many years … If people want to say, `Oh my god, in 10 years something could happen,’ well, that could and might happen. A lot of other things might happen between now and 10 years.”
As for his newfound millionaire standing, Tunney took all of it in stride.
“There’s mortgages to pay. There are taxes to pay. But yeah, I’ll be worth a few million,” he mentioned.
“I don’t feel a day older or a day richer. I do my job. I’ve been blessed by my investments in Lakeview and my investment in the community and I’ll continue to do the best job for my residents and my customers.”