As Pullman celebrates the opening of a Chipotle on Thursday, local leaders announced plans to bring a Starbucks, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Chicago’s first Slim & Husky’s, a pizza chain whose investor includes former Bears running back Matt Forte.
The three eateries are expected to open late next year at the new Pullman Park Retail Center on 111th Street, David Doig, president of community development group Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, said.
“We’re on a roll with these retailers,” Doig said.
The new center “is a powerful vote of confidence in Pullman’s future. Every new investment creates jobs, expands amenities for residents and builds on nearly $1 billion in public and private investment that is reshaping Chicago’s Far South Side,” Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said in a news release.
The announcement came as Chipotle launched a 1,500-square-foot space with a drive-thru at 11211 S. Corliss Ave. The 8-acre complex, called Pullman Gateway, broke ground in 2024 and is home to Chick-fil-A, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s and the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line Extension project offices.
“We started on this two years ago. It’s all built-out now. It speaks to the momentum we have,” Doig said. “I’m surprised how quickly it’s filled up. That’s a good thing.”
About 300 CTA employees work at the site and bring lunchtime traffic, he said. In total, Pullman Gateway’s businesses have created nearly 500 jobs.
Workers from nearby Amazon, Method and SC Johnson facilities also create demand for restaurants, Doig said. People also come from the nearby Harborside International Golf Course, concerts at the House of Hope arena and Pullman’s tourist sites such as the Pullman National Historical Park.
Pullman was created in the 1880s as a company town to house workers who made luxury railroad cars at the factory of magnate George Pullman. Yet over the years, industrial decline gutted one of the country’s first planned model industrial towns.
But since 2009, Pullman and neighboring Roseland have attracted about $900 million in public and private investment and created almost 2,000 permanent jobs, according to a news release from Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives. The nonprofit led Pullman Gateway’s development with the Hope Center Foundation.
The site of Pullman Gateway was formerly a Hawthorne Racecourse off-track betting facility and parking lot.
Since 2014, Pullman has seen an influx of corporate investment spurred by local leaders and initiatives. The neighborhood has seen major openings, including a Walmart; the first Whole Foods distribution center in Illinois; the first Gotham Greens greenhouse outside of New York; and a Method soap plant that was the first factory to open on the South Side in 30 years.
Until recently, there were only a few restaurants in Pullman. Lexington Betty Smokehouse, Potbelly’s and Culver’s have opened about half a mile from the main Pullman National Park building.
Otherwise, there were few places where visitors could linger. The nonprofit Pullman House Project expanded the neighborhood’s first cafe in 2024. It’s housed in the project’s restored Queen Anne home and visitors’ center at 605 E. 111th St.