"We were looking at sterile boxes, and then we found this building that really has soul," Erik Nelson told Block Club Chicago in April. He was standing inside the former Armitage Auto Repair at 2036 W. Armitage Ave., which he and his business partner were turning into a gym.
His line works for the whole block. Between Damen and Hoyne, the 2000 block of West Armitage is filling back in, and the new tenants didn't take the easy space. They picked buildings with a garage door, a skylight, or a single story where a wood fire can go, and then shaped their businesses around those features. That choice costs time. One storefront on this block has been dark for more than two years, and another opened about a year after its owners first planned to.
The block's timeline
The dates explain why the block has felt unsettled for so long:
- Early August 2024: Jack & Ginger's closes suddenly at the west end of the block after 13 years, as Eater Chicago reported that month.
- Early 2025: El Rinconcito Sudamerica leaves 2010 W. Armitage for Belmont Cragin.
- Spring 2025: Construction starts at 2010 for The Origin Restaurant and Lounge.
- April 30 and May 15, 2026: The Origin starts a soft opening, then holds its grand opening.
- July 2026: Bucktown Assembly's first member reviews appear on its site, matching the July opening its owners told Block Club they were aiming for.
- January or February 2027: The target opening for Trattoria Lo So in the former Jack & Ginger's, per the Chicago Sun-Times in October.
If Lo So hits that window, the address will have been dark for about two and a half years. The building is the reason the wait is worth it to the people moving in.
The auto shop kept its garage doors
Bucktown Assembly is the clearest case of a building setting the plan. According to Block Club's April report, the three-month buildout meant refurbishing the interior brick, doing foundation work and adding a locker room. The rest stayed one big open room with squat racks, cardio machines and space for classes. The owners also kept the large central skylight, and on warmer days they planned to roll up the old auto shop garage doors to the street.
Those features fit how the owners describe the business. The program centers on strength training and HYROX-style fitness races, but the name is about people gathering. "What we'd like to do is create a space for people to meet, something that can drive community," co-owner Ashley Stephen told Block Club, and the plans include a lounge for hanging out before and after workouts. An open garage door does that job better than a door in a strip-mall unit.
The gym is now open. Its website shows member reviews from July through October 2026, and several mention the building by name: natural light, exposed ceiling beams, a "beautiful" space. As of this fall it lists starter packs for newcomers, including three classes for $33.
The Origin waited a year to open its doors
At 2010 W. Armitage, the cost of reusing an old room shows up mostly in time. The Origin took over the former El Rinconcito Sudamerica. Block Club reported that construction began in spring 2025 and the owners had hoped to open about a year before they did. Contractor problems and city permitting kept pushing the date back.
"We had some challenges with contractors," restaurant partner Coco Shelton told Block Club, describing the last stretch as "refacing some of the things, painting and just the aesthetics of the place." The restaurant also needed its liquor license before it could open.
The menu that came out of that wait is African fusion. Goat pepper soup and jollof rice carried over from the soft opening, and Shelton named a red snapper and a traditional egusi soup made with melon seeds as dishes to expect. The owners also planned a rotating series of short-term chef residencies alongside the permanent menu. The restaurant's own site says it is open and takes reservations.
The former bar has one story, and that leaves room for fire
The most expensive bet on the block is going into the most ordinary-looking building. Trattoria Lo So is the second restaurant from Monteverde chef and co-owner Sarah Grueneberg and her partners Jaime Canete and Rob Mosher. Monteverde executive chef Bailey Sullivan will run the kitchen. The address is 2044 W. Armitage, the former Jack & Ginger's.
The Sun-Times reported that the one-story space let the team install two things a taller building makes hard: a wood-burning oven and a charcoal grill. The menu is built around both. Seafood and vegetables will cook over a robata-style grill, and fresh pastas will be finished in the wood-fired oven. Grueneberg told the paper:
"Having live fuel is a challenge and an exciting thing altogether. That fire, that smoke, is going to tell the story of the menu there."
The pasta sets it apart from Monteverde in the West Loop, which is known for fresh pasta. Lo So's signature dishes will use bronze-die dried pasta from Mancini Pastificio Agricolo in Italy's Marche region. "You could never really have a true al dente with fresh pasta," Sullivan told the Sun-Times. Grueneberg jokes that the new place is "like the cool aunt that Monteverde wished that they had."
Block Club filled in the size. The building, under construction for months, will become a 120-seat restaurant with a 17-seat bar. It will also have a custom batteria, a set of barrels for aging balsamic vinegar like the one at Monteverde, and wines and amari from small Italian and American producers. The name roughly means "the trattoria I know."
A 120-seat room is a big commitment to a short Bucktown block, and the January or February 2027 date is still a target.
The corner building went the other way
The Damen end of the block shows the opposite outcome. As CBS Chicago reported, 2000 W. Armitage is a former Schlitz tied house, one of the bars breweries built to sell their own beer. It had a rust-colored Schlitz globe and blond brickwork. In 2024 the building was controversially painted white, globe included.
That puts both approaches at opposite ends of one block. At 2036 and 2044, the new tenants built around what the old building had. At the corner, the building's most recognizable mark was painted over. The tied house isn't a designated landmark, which CBS notes is the case for many former tied houses around the city.
What's open on the block in November
On a weeknight this month, the stretch from Damen to Hoyne looks like this:
- 2000 W. Armitage, the whitewashed former Schlitz tied house at the Damen corner.
- The Origin Restaurant and Lounge, 2010 W. Armitage, open for African fusion dinners, with reservations through its site.
- Bucktown Assembly, 2036 W. Armitage, holding coached strength, conditioning and HYROX-style classes in the former auto shop.
- Trattoria Lo So, 2044 W. Armitage, still under construction and aiming for January or February 2027.
For coffee before or after, Cafe Gimme opened in late July around the corner at 2115 N. Damen Ave. It serves coffee, smoothies, açaí bowls, breakfast and lunch, plus cocktails and wine. Owners Courtney and Joe Gryzik told Block Club they wanted an all-day neighborhood place where people could linger.
By early spring, if Lo So opens on schedule, all three storefronts that have changed hands on this block since Jack & Ginger's closed in 2024 will be open, each in the building it was planned around.
At KD Homes, we follow blocks like this one closely, because a building's bones affect its value as much as its address does. If you own one of Bucktown's older storefronts, cottages or two-flats and want to know what it's worth today, request a free home valuation and we'll walk through it with you.