Double Door Evicted

The legendary Double Door club in Chicago has been evicted from its longtime Wicker Park location, according to an attorney for the building’s owner.

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Double Door, Chicago.

The 550-capacity venue, which hosted Double Door and was a filming site for the movie “High Fidelity,” has been embroiled in a leasing dispute with its landlord throughout 2016, stemming from a disagreement on whether the club gave proper notice that it wanted to renew its lease. The case was taken up in a circuit court, where a judge ruled that landlord Brian Strauss and club management had until Aug. 4 to work out a deal on their own.

Cook county Circuit Judge Orville Hambright Jr. then ruled that the club had until the end of the year to vacate because management did not properly notify the landlord in 2015 it wished to extend the lease, according to the Chicago Tribune.

An appeal was filed in September but the landlord’s attorney said the club management did not pay the $468,000 appeal bond.

“It was time for either Double Door to post the appeal bond or move, get out,” Attorney James McKay told the paper. “They did neither. They willfully violated Judge Hambright’s court orders.”

The club employs 40 staff, many of whom have worked there since the venue opened in 1994.

The Double Door may have its supporters for sentimental reasons but the neighborhood has changed dramatically.

Despite being a diverse neighborhood when the club opened, property value in Wicker Park has skyrocketed in recent years. Double Door is now competing with similarly sized Lincoln Hall with a new sound system, and Strauss requested last year that until the current tenants leave, rent be raised from $22,000 to $33,000.

“Double Door’s been a longtime tenant of mine. Its time has come to an end,” Strauss told the Sun Times previously. “Now a new future will be coming up.”