A New York bakery and a California-based clothing brand are coming to Armitage Avenue in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, one of the city’s highest-demand shopping corridors.
Levain Bakery plans its third space in the city at 849 W. Armitage Ave. in late 2025, while men’s and women’s clothing retailer Rails will make its Midwest debut at 841 W. Armitage next spring, the companies confirmed.
Acadia Realty Trust, the owner of both spaces and the largest landlord on the street, announced the deals during a Monday call with analysts.
The Rye, New York-based real estate investment trust said the deals come with rents up 20% on the street over the past year, and up 50% since 2019. Spaces on the street were filled in large part by online retailers such as Allbirds and Warby Parker.
Adding the bakery will help diversify the street’s offerings and allow shoppers to linger longer, said A.J. Levine, Acadia’s senior vice president of leasing and development.
Levine said that “Levain who has been a long-term tenant of ours in Williamsburg [in Brooklyn] and has a presence on a number of our streets, will add a new [food and beverage] component to Armitage and drive a new layer of traffic that will benefit the entire street,” according to a transcript of the call.
“We've already seen it happen firsthand in Williamsburg, on M Street in Georgetown, on Newbury Street in Boston and elsewhere and it's that depth of experience and insight that tells us who we can add to our streets to drive overall market performance,” Levine added. “In other words, curation.”
Other tenants on the street offering food and drinks include the Maison Parisienne, La Colombe, Armitage Ale House and the forthcoming Hotel Chocolat.
Downward vacancy
Retail vacancy on Armitage between Sheffield Avenue and Halsted Street has largely been on the decline from a peak of 14.2% in 2017, according to an annual report on top North Side shopping avenues by Stone Real Estate. Armitage vacancy rose last year to 6.2%, from 3% the previous year. Even with the one-year rise, available spaces often have been quickly snapped up, the report said.
Founded in New York in 1995, Levain is best known for cookies, but it also offers items such as breads, pastries, loaf cakes, and sticky buns. Lines began forming for the company’s Chicago debut in the Fulton Market district in 2022 at 5 a.m., three hours before the opening on a chilly November morning, Eater Chicago reported at the time.
Levain, which has since added a River North shop, will take over the Armitage space currently occupied by Marine Layer. Chicago will have the most Levain locations of any city besides New York. It also has shops in the Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., markets.
“We are excited to continue to grow by opening our third bakery in Chicago,” Steph Menke, Levain’s chief strategy and real estate officer, said in a statement. “The city has given us the warmest welcome over the past two years, and we can’t wait to join the Lincoln Park community in late 2025.”
Vernon, California-based Rails is moving into a space formerly leased to Outside Voices.
The company is “excited to bring our Southern California-inspired collections to such a vibrant shopping corridor and connect directly with new and loyal customers like,” a spokesperson said in an email, adding Rails is looking for other Chicago locations.
Rails now has U.S. shops in New York; Newport Beach, California; Boston; Houston; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; and Palo Alto, California. Rails also has six shops in Europe.
The company plans to open at least four stores annually going forward, Rails founder Jeff Abrams said in a statement. Spring openings are planned in Bethesda, Maryland; Scottsdale, Arizona, and Atlanta.
"We’ve been fortunate that the Midwest is already home to a strong community of loyal Rails customers who have been with us since the early days of the brand,” Abrams said in the statement. “Choosing Chicago as our first Midwest location was a natural decision and Armitage Avenue is the ideal location. The high foot traffic and the chance to sit alongside a diverse array of brands and restaurants allow us to connect with returning customers and those who are discovering Rails for the first time."