PRINTERS ROW \u2014 Reserv is permanently closing, bringing an end to the controversial restaurant and nightlife venue\u2019s short run in Printers Row.<\/p>\n
Owner Gerald Joseph said that he surrendered his business license to the city ahead of a Oct. 16 Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) hearing and after months of complaints from neighbors about noise and large crowds around the business at 744 S. Dearborn St.<\/p>\n
At a brief continuance meeting Friday, an attorney representing the city disclosed that a settlement agreement had been extended to Joseph ahead of next month. While the details of the agreement were not divulged, neighbors were told that the \u201cwriting was on wall\u201d for Reserv. <\/p>\n
Joseph did not attend the hearing, telling Block Club he no longer wants to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m done. We\u2019re closed. I\u2019m dead broke,\u201d said Joseph. \u201cMy 80 employees are now out of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The business owner still faces eviction after being accused of owing $45,000 in back rent. <\/p>\n
Activity in and around Reserv has dropped since late August, when a large fight broke out in front of the restaurant, prompting a huge police response. Then the city issued a cease-and-desist notice barring the business from playing live music and charging admission.<\/p>\n
Joseph told CBS Chicago earlier this month that his security team worked with police to control the crowd and pushed back against the idea that the incident was representative of his business as a whole.<\/p>\n
But neighbors said that previous disturbances \u2014 coupled with a lack of neighborly concern from Joseph about noise, cleanliness and safety \u2014 had made it difficult to extend goodwill. They also said they felt Reserv, which opened in December, had not made enough of an effort to build a relationship with the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
Residents previously told Block Club that Reserv\u2019s music would continue late into the night and that customers remained loud after leaving the business. One neighbor said the venue \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel like a neighborhood kind of spot\u201d and instead feels more like a club.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BACP gave Reserv a list of changes to implement, which included lowering music volume and providing proof of signage instructing patrons to quietly disperse after last call.<\/p>\n
One neighbor said the owner has made the \u201cright statements\u201d during meetings but that they did not lead to any meaningful changes.<\/p>\n
At a July hearing, Joseph said he tried to address those concerns by disconnecting two large subwoofers, adding extra security for crowd control and raising its minimum age to 30. <\/p>\n
Ald. Lamont Robinson (4th) previously called for Reserv\u2019s license to be revoked, saying the latest fight reinforced his position. He had planned to attend next month\u2019s meeting, he told Block Club.<\/p>\n
With all the bad press, Joseph said he hasn\u2019t been able to find a job, adding that he worries for his future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t afford to start over. I have 40 cents to my name,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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PRINTERS ROW \u2014 Reserv is permanently closing, bringing an end to the controversial restaurant and nightlife venue\u2019s short run in Printers Row. Owner Gerald Joseph said that he surrendered his business license to the city ahead of a Oct. 16 Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) hearing and after months of complaints from neighbors about<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[113,7,8],"class_list":["post-29918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-restaurants","tag-featured","tag-restaurant","tag-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117306875164246760","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}