If all had gone according to plan, Healey would be scrambling right now to get Chicago in tiptop shape to host the Summer Olympics. Instead, as head of McPier since April, she’s scrambling to keep tourists and conventioneers coming to the city. The headwinds are strong, including $3.5 billion in bond debt, flat hotel occupancy, … Read more
The future of the Art Institute of Chicago is in plastics. That is, plastics mogul Stefan Edlis and his wife, Gael Neeson, who last April donated 44 works of pop art valued at $400 million—the biggest gift in the museum’s history. While a $35 million cash gift from the late Dorothy Braude Edinburg made news … Read more
“We begin 2016 in a much better place than we were 12 months ago,” Easterbrook told analysts in late January. And it’s no empty boast. Mere months after taking the reins at the struggling Oak Brook–based burger behemoth, Easterbrook gave customers what the company had previously insisted was impossible: breakfast all day! After the August … Read more
Calling it 1871 3.0, this serial entrepreneur led the Merchandise Mart–based tech hub in yet another expansion—and to a No. 1 ranking (from a Swedish research firm that studies tech centers) as the nation’s best university-affiliated incubator. Power Quote “Whatever was yesterday’s miracle is tomorrow’s ‘So what?’ ”
Chefs and restaurateurs grab most of the attention, but this politically connected, under-the-radar power broker is the engine driving Chicago’s thriving foodie industry. Last year was a four-star one for Toia: He successfully lobbied to bring back happy hour in Illinois (multiple attempts since the late ’80s had failed); helped restore state funding to Choose … Read more
Look above: You’re staring at the future of the Democratic Party in Illinois. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Mendoza was only 28 when she was elected to the statehouse. Last May, she was sworn in for her second term as city clerk. Now she’s stepping up to run statewide in the November special election for … Read more
Though hardly a household name, this heavy-hitting zoning guru has repped some of the biggest real estate developers on some of Chicago’s most transformative projects in recent years, including counseling the Cubs on the Wrigley Field rebuild and winning approval for the Ryerson steel redevelopment in Pullman. When the mayor plucked Reifman in September for … Read more
In February, this controversial, well-connected tech entrepreneur (and part owner of the Sun-Times) became chairman and top shareholder of Tribune Publishing, Chicago’s parent—vaulting Ferro onto the national media stage. For better or worse, the fate of print journalism in this town rests largely in his hands.
The owner of Grace—one of only three Chicago restaurants to ever earn three Michelin stars—can command $940 for a nine-course dinner for two with wine pairings and still pack the seats. Duffy’s fame extended further this year: For Grace, a documentary about him, garnered impressive buzz on the festival circuit.
Chicago’s storied history of corruption tends to keep its U.S. attorneys busy, and Fardon certainly isn’t getting shortchanged. His office recently nabbed former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert and on-the-take ex–CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett; it was the first in the nation to drop the hammer on a “spoofer,” a trader who cheated millions of small … Read more
