A developer who wanted to turn the site of the old Esquire Theater at South Grand Ave. East and MacArthur Ave. into a strip mall has pulled his plans off the table.
Ward 7 Alderman Joe McMenamin says developer Chris Stone’s ideas didn’t match up with the city’s master plan: to create a mixed use district with something that’s lacking in the area: housing.
“There’s nowhere to really move into a townhouse or a condo or more simplified living except if you go far west,” says McMenamin. “We think housing is part of the mix that could really add to the neighborhood there.”
McMenamin says the government doesn’t need to subsidize additional strip retail because there’s already enough vacant retail along MacArthur.
This is the second time plans for that site have been nixed — first it was a high end used car dealership that eventually located on far west Wabash.