On the weekends Eddie Cortes, a resident of Portage Park, goes shopping with his family. “My wife and I have two small children,” he says, “and they love to read–we’re blessed with that.” But in the retail district near his house–the so-called Six Corners at Irving Park, Cicero, and Milwaukee–Cortes complains, “there’s no place to eat, and there’s certainly no place to buy books. That pisses me off. I can’t spend my tax dollars where I live and work.” Instead the Corteses head for the suburbs.
Built in 1931, the five-story art deco Klee building takes its name from Klee Brothers, a men’s clothier that trumpeted its retail amenities almost as much as the garments it had for sale. “The equipment of our stores, their lighting, their ventilation, their generously apportioned salesrooms, their homelike atmosphere–all these we consider second only to the high class of merchandise we handle,” read an early Klee advertising pamphlet. The flatiron-style building boasted elevators with wrought-iron dials, wide stairwells, terrazzo floors, and marble wainscoting–luxurious for the working-class neighborhood.
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With office suites above the store attracting dentists and other professionals, the building prospered into the 1960s, when Klee Brothers sold out to the Rothschild’s clothing chain. But after Rothschild’s left in the 80s, the building failed to attract new retail tenants. Instead the first-floor commercial space housed a series of bank branches–including the Capitol Federal Bank for Savings, whose president, George Demes, and chairman, Alexander Sarovich, bought the Klee in their own names. Capitol Federal went bankrupt during the savings and loan collapse of the late 80s and early 90s, and the two officers were indicted for financial improprieties. After both pleaded guilty, Sarovich, who got off with probation, gained sole ownership of the building.
With Poter on board, the city bought the Klee from Sarovich for $1.8 million using the power of eminent domain. Then nothing happened. “We went through various design changes,” Poter says. “More commercial, less commercial. Less units, more units. We couldn’t get the deal done.” He won’t comment further, but Angelastri says Poter was demanding a larger TIF subsidy than the city wanted to give.
“I recognize the need for an art center, but we already have one,” says Eddie Cortes, who supports Poter’s plan. “Putting a lot of artists into the Klee building would be a bad move. Artists are piss-poor. They don’t have money for one of Sandberg’s apartments, unless they are doctors or lawyers who paint on the side. A ritzy-titsy art gallery on the first floor isn’t going to put an economic punch into Six Corners….We need major retail so that, like I say, we don’t have to go to the suburbs to buy things.”
“No one is telling us what the glitch is,” says the neighborhood association’s Adrienne O’Brien. “Maybe it’s because half the community is for the artsy proposal and half is for Poter–and no one wants to get crucified for a bad decision. But the Klee building has been vacant for five years, at least the commercial space has, and we’re sick and tired of it.”
