Chicago was in the spotlight this week as the host city of the Democratic National Convention, and Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Democratic Party were praised for hosting the convention without any major disruptions. But even as some 50,000 attendees enjoyed raucous nights at the United Center, parties at Navy Pier and perfect sunny weather, many downtown business owners said it had been a tough week.
“Lunchtime sales were down 60 to 70 percent,” said Brad Alaoui, chief operating officer of Roanoke Hospitality and owner of The Roanoke Restaurant, 135 W. Madison Ave. “The Loop was a ghost town. There was no business and it was scary.”
City officials said the convention would raise Chicago’s profile and boost downtown businesses, but many employers, concerned about crowds and disruption caused by protests, advised employees to stay home during the four-day convention, depriving restaurants and stores of patrons.
“It’s been a generally bad week for us,” said Zach Frantzman, chief operating officer of Brown Bag Seafood Co., a fast-casual restaurant with several downtown locations. “Our customers are office workers who are typically here Tuesday through Thursday, and when they’re not here, we struggle.”
Brown Bag restaurants in Lincoln Park and Roscoe Village did see above-average sales, he added, with many locals dropping in from their home offices, but the extra business up north didn’t make up for what happened in the Loop, where revenue fell in half.
“I think the level of panic over the protests and that type of thing was overblown, but it was individual businesses that told people to stay home, not the city,” Frantzman said. “It’s unfortunate that the Loop was so empty after all these beautiful sunny days. Looking back, if everyone had been in the office, this could have been a strong week.”
Metra commuter trains were also relatively empty during the tournament.
“During the convention, ridership across our lines was significantly lower as many employers allowed employees to work from home,” a Metra spokesperson said. “For the majority of that week, ridership was about 35% of pre-pandemic levels, while the week before that, ridership was about 60% of pre-COVID levels.”
Not all downtown businesses were hurt: Hoteliers said the thousands of conventioneers, media and event volunteers helped fill many of their rooms, even if revenue fell short of initial projections.
“Our occupancy was pretty high throughout the week, maybe higher than a lot of other hotels, because the tournament was on,” said Nabil Moubaid, general manager of the InterContinental Hotel at 505 N. Michigan Ave. Tournament officials had booked about 80% of the hotel’s 792 rooms.
But even the Intercontinental Hotel, located on the popular Magnificent Mile near Navy Pier, halfway between the United Center on the west side and McCormick Place convention center on the south side, where many of the DNC’s events were held, remained sparsely populated throughout the four days.
“The only area that didn’t do as well as we hoped was the restaurants and bars because conventioneers were at the United Center very late,” Mbaid said. “We were open until 2 a.m., so we got a late influx of customers, but not as many as we would have liked. And, of course, we didn’t get a lot of locals.”
Few people cross the Wabash Street Bridge in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. The Loop was quiet despite the flurry of Democratic National Convention activity and events. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
The 223-room Sable at Navy Pier was nearly fully booked, according to Robert Habeeb, CEO of Maverick Hotels & Restaurants, and other hoteliers were seeing similar figures, Habeeb said.
“I think everyone is very happy with how this week has unfolded,” he said. “The weather has been really great all week and it’s definitely helped us to showcase our city to the world in a really good way.”
Habib had hoped earlier this year that Democrats would take up all the rooms at Navy Pier, as well as hotel rooms downtown and nearby, but party officials didn’t need all the rooms they’d reserved, so Habib began renting them out to the general public, eventually achieving an 85% occupancy rate.
“It’s pretty good,” he said. “It’s not as sold out as I was hoping for, but it’s still good.”
Many restaurateurs say they need time to recover from a week of zero customers downtown.
“Business is down a lot,” said Tamar Mizrahi, a partner at Goddess and the Baker, a breakfast and lunch cafe with five locations in the Loop and River North. “With no people coming downtown and no catering, it’s really down.”
Frantzman said the blow was softened this week because managers of some buildings, including Willis Tower, where Brown Bag opened in 2019, have told restaurants to expect sparse traffic.
“We weren’t surprised by this,” he says. “We knew it wasn’t going to be really busy, so we staffed accordingly and treated the week like a Friday instead of the usual Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which typically requires a lot fewer workers.”
Some restaurants near the United Center even had a profitable week. Maxwell’s Trading, at 1516 W. Carroll Ave. in the Kinsey Industrial Corridor, which specializes in food inspired by Chicago’s immigrant communities, closed during the Democratic National Convention and instead rented its space to Care in Action, a nonprofit that fights for the rights of domestic workers such as housekeepers and nannies. The group has hosted DNC-related events, bringing in speakers and even held a convention viewing party one night.
“Chicago has a long history of protests, but we’ve lived in the city long enough to know that these things can go wrong, so we thought the best way to get through this was to find one customer,” said Joshua Tilden, who opened the restaurant with a couple of partners in December. “It turned out to be a lot of fun.”
Road closures around the United Center are still hurting other nearby businesses.
“We approached other restaurants in the area, but that didn’t work out,” Tilden said. “Sometimes during big events like this, Chicagoans want to stay in their neighborhoods.”
Frantzman said he didn’t know if Chicago officials could have done anything differently.
“At the end of the day, the tournament is meant to bring economic activity to the city, but in the end it was a mix of good and bad,” he said, “but it could have been a lot worse.”
Alaoui is just happy that the week is over.
“Now we can put it in the past and move forward,” he said.
Tribune reporter Sarah Freistadt contributed.
First published: August 25, 2024, 5:00 AM
