UPDATE: Wicker Park Rent Hike Claims Penny's Noodle Shop

By Tankboy in Food on Dec 14, 2015 7:00PM

This is getting ridiculous. Rising rents have driven another Wicker Park staple out of business. After 25 years in Wicker Park Penny's Noodle Shop (1542 N. Damen Ave.) announced they'll be closing their doors for good on Jan. 2, 2016.

Why is this happening? In a statement on their Facebook page the noodle shop said:

After our previous landlord was foreclosed on, by the lender, due to his alleged financial mischief we were unable to obtain an affordable lease. We always prided ourselves on serving homemade food at a price that folks could enjoy as frequently as they wanted and not only on special occasions. We didn’t want to stray from that direction.

The last couple of months have not been great ones for neighborhood businesses as rising rents are even driving out larger, national stores. And threatening other longtime staples.

Over my own two decades of living in and around Wicker Park, I've seen major changes happen, and we often used to joke that Wicker Park was the new Lincoln Park—and that was in the late '90s.

Unlike Lincoln Park, though, building owners seem to have grown so greedy as to drive off tenants in the hopes that they will land someone who can afford exorbitant rents. This is partially because many of these folks have been told that their neighborhood is one of the hottest around so often they've begun to overlook the fact that high rents suck the oxygen out of development and leave vacant storefronts in their wake.

The only good news is that the other two Penny's Noodle Shop locations will remain open (950 W. Diversey Ave. and 1130 W. Chicago Ave., Oak Park). So if you're craving some of their delicious dishes you're not totally out of luck, you might just have to travel a little further for the food. Of course this is also proof the business is doing well, just not well enough to handle extensive gouging by Wicker Park landlords.

UPDATE 4:05 p.m.: DNAinfo and Eater have confirmed chef Bill Kim will be opening a new Urbanbelly location in the Penny's space in early 2016. While the neighborhood already has plenty of ramen shops—and at least it's not another donut shop—this does mean the storefront won't be vacant for long.

The original Penny's Facebook post also mentioned, "The new owners have offered to consider hiring as many of our current employees as possible and we are grateful for that." In a statement, Kim did say, ""we very much respect the loyalty the owners have built with the community, guests and employees," but he didn't go so far as to confirm those employees would have a home at the new Urbanbelly.