Vacant Burger King Brings Howard Street Aldermen To Court

EVANSTON, IL — Aldermen from both sides of Howard Street brought residents to a building court hearing Monday to address the site of a former Burger King, now abandoned and overgrown. Since 2011, the property at 2317 W. Howard St. has been owned by Vincent Rizzo, and although he had zoning approval and plans to open up a truck rental franchise at the location back then, he never did.

Instead, according to Ald. Joe Moore of the 49th Ward in Chicago, Rizzo "completely neglected the property," ignoring "repeated pleas to open the business or sell the property" to someone who would put it to productive use.

Since Rizzo bought the property, he has rejected "numerous good faith offers" from potential buyers and recently backed out of a deal with a popular fast food franchise "at the last minute," according to Moore. The local ward superintendent cleans the property and has issued Rizzo thousands of dollars worth of tickets to no avail, Moore said.

"Apparently Mr. Rizzo would rather pay the tickets than live up to his responsibilities as a good neighbor," the alderman suggested.

This week's court hearing follows efforts by Moore to evaluate whether city could order the demolition of the abandoned burger joint (it can't) and a formal complaint filed last month in housing court against Rizzo when a series of building violations was left unfixed. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Evanston — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Those violations include boarded up windows, damaged shingles, a wall bowing in, open electrical boxes and failure to register the building as vacant, according to DNAInfo.

Moore said city attorneys strongly recommended that concerned residents come to court to express community concerns over the site.

So about 20 residents from both sides of the Evanston-Chicago border came to Monday's hearing, 8th Ward Evanston Ald. Ann Rainey told the Daily Northwestern. Although the building is on the Chicago side of Howard Street, it is more of an eyesore for the Evanston residents who have to look at it, she argued.

Rainey organized free round-trip bus transportation for Chicago and Evanston residents from Rizzo's vacant property Monday morning. She said she believes it made a big impression on the judge.

"[W]e were really quite impressive with our crowd," she told the Daily. "So things are going to really move along."

Rizzo has recently opened another new business on Chicago's North Side. In September 2017, he opened Rizzo's Bar & Inn at 3658 N. Clark St. across the street from Wrigley Field. He did not respond to a request for comment.

_{Photos courtesy 49th Ward office of Ald. Joe Moore}