Hot dog: Wieners Circle, next-door apartments hit market

Current zoning would allow a buyer to replace the beloved restaurant with a multifamily building

The Wieners Circle at 2614-2618 North Clark Street (Credit: Facebook)
The Wieners Circle at 2614-2618 North Clark Street (Credit: Facebook)

Investor Alfred Fessler has put the tiny but beloved home of the Wieners Circle hot dog stand on the market, raising the possibility that a buyer could raze the building and replace it with a multifamily building.

The 36-year-old stand joins an adjacent 17-unit apartment building on the selling block at 2614-2618 North Clark Street, at the center of a crowded Lincoln Park restaurant district. The seller is asking for $7.5 million for the properties, according to Crain’s.

The sale is being brokered by Jeff Baasch of SVN Chicago Commercial, who told Crain’s the 700-square-foot shack is “not the highest and best use” for an area where demand for residential space is skyrocketing.

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An investor group led by Ari Levy bought the Wieners Circle brand in 2015, since then expanding with a new location in Rosemont. They now pay $7,333, or $10.48 per square foot, in monthly rent for the Lincoln Park location.

Current zoning would allow a new property owner to build up to six residential units above a commercial space on the Wieners Circle site.

On Tuesday, real estate investment trust Store Capital sold the Wicker Park home of Smoke Daddy restaurant to a California LLC for $5.1 million. [Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin