Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant is sailing into Navy Pier for a 10-year run.
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates the pier, announced the lease agreement Wednesday morning.
“So, we’ll have the Caribbean in February on Navy Pier,” said David Mosena, chairman of the authority, known as McPier. McPier is hoping the restaurant and entertainment venue will act as an attendance magnet year-round.
Buffett, in a statement, expressed his excitement for the new venue, targeted to open in the spring.
“From my earliest days in the city, playing the Quiet Knight on Belmont, to the pinnacle of live performances to me, singing in front of the ivy wall at Wrigley Field, I have had a long and wonderful history and affection for the people, the music, the art and the food of the Windy City. I have always thought of Chicago as a beach town, a pretty big one, but still a beach town.”
McPier declined to disclose terms of the lease prior to the contract being signed with the Orlando, Fla.-based Margaritaville chain.
The restaurant beat out 10 other bidders, including the current tenant, Charlie’s Ale House, a staple at the pier since 1995.
McPier was looking for more of a destination-type restaurant, said Steve Haemmerle, executive director of development.
“We think it will ultimately result in additional revenue and additional interest in Navy Pier,” he said. “It’s hard to argue that Jimmy Buffett is not an iconic individual.”
The pier has been moving toward landing known brands, said Marilynn Gardner, the pier’s general manager. She cited the addition earlier this year of Harry Caray’s Tavern. The pier also has a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant.
Charlie’s Ale House at the pier was the last of four such restaurants in the area, and its co-owners, Tim Rasmussen and Marty Fosse, are moving in new directions in the Andersonville neighborhood with Anteprima, a rustic Italian restaurant, and newly opened Acre, a seasonal American restaurant in a former Charlie’s pub.
“After 15 years at the pier, it’s great opportunity to redirect our business,” Rasmussen said. “It’s sad for us … for the pier itself, it’s important that things be pruned and new growth occurs there,” he said.
McPier is reigniting efforts to expand and freshen offerings at Navy Pier. The aim is to have a blueprint by January, when Jim Reilly, the state-appointed trustee overseeing a revamp of McPier operations, must make a recommendation to the legislature on whether to operate Navy Pier separately from McCormick Place, the authority’s other major facility.
McPier will be pulling from two sources of expertise. Nearly a year ago, McPier asked the Urban Land Institute, largely a developers organization, to come up with suggestions, and those ideas will be presented within the next few weeks. McPier’s cost for that study is estimated to be $120,000.
And McPier officials on Wednesday expanded the agency’s three-year contract with real estate adviser Jones Lang LaSalle, agreeing to pay up to $310,000 for the firm to analyze the financial viability of Navy Pier concepts and to assess structural issues.
Efforts to enhance the pier date to 2006, when McPier paid a consultant nearly $385,000 for a set of suggestions. Many of the ideas, including a floating hotel and a roller coaster, were poorly received by local architects and civic leaders and never got going.
Also Wednesday, the authority announced a promotion offering reduced pier parking rates from November through February. Monday through Thursday, rates drop from $20 to $14; and Friday through Sunday, they decline from $24 to $18. As well, parking after 5 p.m. will be $10 every day.
