CHICAGO-Starbucks has signed a lease with the Chicago Transit Authority to place its first store within an ‘L’ station on the elevated train line. The CTA has about 89 leased spaces for the line, but not much national tenants, and the city asked Jones Lang LaSalle a year ago to find more big names to cater to riders.

More than 700,000 people per day ride the eight lines, marked out in separate colors, coming from all parts of the city and the airports and converging into the downtown loop (and the city prefers the ‘L’ name to the commonly known “el”). The new Starbucks will go in the North/Clybourn Red Line, adjacent to an Apple store, said CTA president Forrest Claypool in a statement. Apple provided the $4 million in 2009 to fund the new station.

“The high customer traffic on the Red Line, in addition to foot traffic near the Apple store is an attractive opportunity for any concession retailer,” he said. “We continue to work toward leasing additional spaces to add even more customer amenities across the system.”

The CTA received 32 bids for the 776-square-foot location at 1599 N. Clybourn Ave. City officials said Starbucks submitted the highest bid per square foot. The total 10-year term is projected to generate $787,500.

In March 2011, CTA amended its purchase and sales regulations to allow JLL to broker leases of available retail concession properties on the open market. A JLL spokesperson did not return a request for comment on this story.

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Starbucks Gains First &#145;L&#146; Station Lease

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