2-Mar-16 – A River North bar still blames a condominium association’s construction scaffolds for making its sidewalk café unusable during lucrative summer months last year, and will appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit against the association.

RRRR, Inc., doing business as Blue Frog’s Local 22, filed the lawsuit on April 20, 2015, against Plaza 440 Private Residences Condominium Association, located above the bar in a 50-story structure, with its main entrance on North Wabash Avenue. The building also houses Courtyard Chicago Downtown/River North which, along with the bar, faces East Hubbard Street.

Local 22 says “a substantial portion” of its profits each year are from the sidewalk café it operates from April through November. But on March 12, 2015, 12 days into the city’s official sidewalk café season, the bar was notified by Plaza 440 that a two-to-five-month construction project to replace windows at the 457-unit condo building would start the following week – and scaffolds would be placed on the city-owned sidewalk in front of Local 22.

When they complained that the scaffolds would block signs and make it impossible to operate the café, the condo association told Local 22 to talk to the contractor, McGuire Construction. McGuire told them they were unaware of any outdoor seating area and had not included in their bid the cost of accommodating it.

The bar claimed breach of contract, tortious interference with a business, and intentional interference with a contract. They wanted the judge to stop the construction that was costing them, they said, $5,000 to $7,000 every week.

Although the scaffolds were removed on July 23, 2015, Local 22 says business was off and the condo association was to blame. (Left) Plaza 440 on Wabash Avenue, above Local 22 and Hubbard Street.

No contract interference because there was no contract

The case was dismissed on December 22, 2015. In dismissing the breach-of-contract claim, Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Pantle said the 2005 contract in question was between owners of the property – and Local 22 is just a tenant. It did not have a contract with the condo association, she said, nor could it control activity on the city-owned sidewalk.

Pantle dismissed a claim of tortious interference with a business, saying the condo association was not maliciously interfering with Local 22’s customers and needed the scaffolds to catch any falling debris while it made repairs it was obligated to make by the 2005 contract to which it was a party.

She dismissed another claim of intentional interference of Local 22’s lease with 440 Northbridge Group because the lease, she said, does not promise “continuous, unfettered access to the patio.”

Another issue was that although Local 22 had applied for a sidewalk café permit for 2015, when the scaffolds were erected in March, the city had not actually granted the license. It was not until May 6, 2015, that Local 22 was granted permission for two café areas, totaling 1,134 square feet and seating up to 72 people along Hubbard Street.

“Without an actual license from the city to use the sidewalk,” wrote Pantle in the order, Local 22 “had no reasonable expectation that it could place outdoor seating and do business on the sidewalk.”

RRRR, Inc. filed a notice of appeal on January 19, 2016. The case will be heard by the Illinois Appellate Court in the First Judicial District based in Chicago. The 42,000 square foot bar, then called Blue Frog 22 and reportedly $400,000 in debt, appeared in the fifth episode of Spike TV’s reality series, Bar Rescue, in 2011. The bar/restaurant started buying better-quality meat, raised prices, and according to the show, food sales were up 50 percent per month. (Right) Bar Rescue host Jon Taffer in front of Local 22, then called Blue Frog 22, in September 2011 during the first season of Spike TV’s series, Bar Rescue.