Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Hospitality | March 1, 2021

Loop Alliance Urges Support for Theater Week, Restaurant Week

The Chicago Loop Alliance touted a pair of multi-day festivals organized by Choose Chicago—Theatre Week and Restaurant Week—as a means of supporting businesses and organizations hit hard by the pandemic-related shutdowns. Theatre Week, co-presented with the League of Chicago Theatres, runs through March 7, while Restaurant Week is slated for March 19 through April 4.

“We’ve been collecting data on a monthly basis, and the numbers are still pretty grim,” said Chicago Loop Alliance president and CEO Michael Edwards. “Pedestrian activity on State Street in the Loop is down by about 70% compared to last year.”

Accordingly, he said, “The Loop’s storefront economy cannot be supported by residents alone. This area is set up to serve 370,000 workers, many of whom have been working from home for the past year to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”

As for theaters, he added, “It’s just not financially viable for our theaters to operate with current capacity restrictions. The virtual offerings for Theatre Week this year are fantastic, and I hope our theaters get much-needed support.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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