Evanston’s recently closed Al’s Italian Beef might soon relocate closer to Northwestern’s campus.
The restaurant’s franchisee, Ahmad Haj, will be allowed six months to secure a new restaurant site before his franchise rights are released to other interested parties, said Dave Howey, Chicago Franchise Systems president.
Haj severed the tenancy to pursue moving closer to the NU campus, Howey said.
He also said lease renewal negotiations with Davis Street Land Company, the owner of the four-story property the Chicago-based beef-sandwich shop anchored, proved unproductive in recent weeks.
Howey described the lease proposal as “very, very expensive,” given the brick storefront’s three-block commute from NU’s South Campus.
“The traffic in that spot just wasn’t needed with that rent,” Howey said. “(Haj) just didn’t feel like it would work.”
Jill Nolte, a leasing representative at Davis Street Land Co., declined to comment on the ineffective lease talks, but suggested Haj’s operation failed to be financially viable.
“They never really made it there,” she said, specifying the Al’s decor is already being removed to attract other restaurant or retail outlets to the now vacant space.
Chicago Franchise Systems bought the right to Al’s in 1999. Al’s has since opened several locations in the Chicago area.
Still, some students said greater campus proximity may have little effect on their eating habits. Weinberg freshman Daniel Olson said he frequents Joy Yee’s Noodle Kitchen across from Haj’s former spot on a weekly basis, so restaurant distance is seldom a factor.
“I would probably not go there any more than I would now,” Olson said, in reference to a nearer Al’s location.
Georgia Mori, a hairstylist at nearby Great Clips, 620 Davis St., also said restaurant vicinity was never relevant to her. Mori said that the sudden closure of her hair studio’s next-door neighbor, however, did catch her by surprise.
“They didn’t really send out a long notice,” Mori said. “I always thought they’d be busy because of the school nearby and everything.”
