December 5, 2014 – For the first time in more than 50 years, the residents of Marina City have been without a grocery store. That will change early next year when a small chain of stores in the South Loop expands to the concourse level of Marina City.

A building permit was issued on November 10 to Mike Hammad to renovate the existing interior commercial space at 300 North State Street and use it as a retail store.

Hammad is most likely Muhanad Hani Hammad, listed in state records as secretary of Kammad Corporation, which owns South Loop Market at 235 West Van Buren Street. Jamil Ismail Kaman is Kammad’s president.

Muhanad, nor anyone from South Loop Market, nor the commercial property manager at Marina City returned messages seeking more information.

According to the permit, renovations will cost $10,000. Copper Tree Construction Company of Oak Lawn, Illinois, is the general contractor.

Jamil Kaman, along with his brother, Samir, is a co-owner of South Loop Market as well as Kurah Mediterranean Tapas, a restaurant on South Michigan Avenue.

Rami Hammad is also mentioned in published reports as one of the market’s co-owners.

South Loop Market opened in 2009. It has passed all five inspections by the Chicago Department of Public Health in the past four years. It has one police incident this year, a battery that occurred inside the store on October 9.

While not talking to Marina City Online, Rami Hammad did tell DNAInfo the new store will “be like an upscale deli you’d see in New York.”

He says the Marina City store will be their fourth location. The new store, he says, will offer fresh, organic food, wine and beer, and there will be a small delicatessen stocked with cold cuts and cheese from Boar’s Head.

The previous store, Marina Food & Liquor, served Marina City from September 2001 to March 2014. That store was owned Pankaj Patel.