The hotels, retail shops and restaurants that make up Wrigleyville are meant to "boost the neighborhood's status as a year-round destination," and now, at the "start of the first offseason for several of the newcomers, Wrigleyville will begin testing that proposition," according to Lauren Zumbach of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Many of the new offerings that have already opened are "part of a bid by the Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, to extend its control beyond the iconic ballpark to the surrounding streets." Counting the businesses on Gallagher Way -- the plaza next to Wrigley Field -- and the 173-room Hotel Zachary that opened across Clark Street this spring, there are "more than a half-dozen new restaurants and bars adjacent to the ballpark developed by the Ricketts’ real estate investment arm, Hickory Street Capital." HSC said that community programs at the plaza during the winter, "including a skating rink and an outpost of Chicago's Christkindlmarket, drew about 200,000 visitors last year." But what is "less clear is how many people who come for games, concerts or events on the plaza stick around afterward to grab coffee, a meal or a beer." Even when visitors do come, some "won’t venture beyond the adjacent Ricketts properties" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/7).
