Real estate agent Tameka Daniels of Blue Island is back after about two years of radio silence with revamped plans to open a restaurant with the rooftop patio in Austin next to the Veterans Peace Garden.
According to the renderings presented to the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals last November, the changes mostly involved completely redoing the rooftop bar, adding a set of stairs leading from the first floor to complement the planned stairs in the back and adding more tables.
Daniels has been trying to open the TNT Restaurant on Madison Street since she purchased the building at 5405-11 W. Madison St. in October 2019. Because she planned to put in a rooftop patio, she had to get approval from the zoning board. When the board considered her original plans in May 2021, several residents expressed concerns about the noise the patio would create – but Daniels’ application was approved.
The project went quiet until two years later, when Daniels went back before the board because her changes were enough to require another review. Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development also wanted her to put in 6-foot “solid screening or fencing” barriers to reduce noise – something that Daniels’ attorney Robert M. Walker argued would defeat the whole point of having a patio, and pose a financial burden for his client.
The board ended up compromising, allowing them to put up trees instead of a physical barrier on the Madison Street side. However, barriers are still required on three other sides of the restaurant.
Both Daniels and Walker declined to comment.
Formal dining
In an interview in 2021, Daniels said that that she wanted to bring a more formal dining experience to Austin, where her family is from. Sit-down restaurants are in short supply on the West Side portion of Madison Street corridor, and while MacArthur’s restaurant is across the street from the building, it serves classic American-style comfort food.While Daniels said she didn’t want to share too many details – because she wanted it to be a surprise for the community – she said that the menu will include “some healthy options.”
“I don’t eat meat, so there will be some plant-based options,” Daniels added.
In 2021, Daniels made several statements that appeared at times to change. She told the board that she got support from the South Austin Neighborhood Association, which runs the Veteran Peace Garden west of the restaurant. She said that that she “spoke to the ladies that maintained the lot and they were excited that I purchased [the building].” SANA president Cassandra Norman confirmed that Daniels spoke to her and Liz Abunaw, founder of Forty Acres Fresh Market, during the Oct. 4, 2019 pop-up event the market held at the garden, but she said could not recall Daniels mentioning any detailed plans for her business.
Daniels also told the zoning board that TNT Restaurant would be serving alcohol – only to walk back that statement in a follow-up interview, saying that she was still trying to decide whether she would serve alcohol and that she hasn’t applied for a liquor license. Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), whose ward includes the restaurant, told Austin Weekly News at the time that Daniels never told him TNT Restaurant might serve alcohol.
South Austin resident Terry Redmond, who was SANA’s treasurer at the time, told Austin Weekly News that she and several neighbors expressed concerns about parking, the noise coming from the patio and drunken customers misbehaving. Daniels said that she planned to play music on the patio.
During the November meeting, Walker was upfront about the patio having a rooftop bar, and Taliaferro told Austin Weekly News in the recent interview that his office was aware of those plans.
Screen objections
Nancy Radzevich, who heads the Department of Planning and Development’s zoning bureau, told the board that, given the increased number of seats, the size of the bar, the mixed-use apartments on the other side of Madsion Street and the Veterans Park to the west, it was important to have screens to reduce the noise and the lights. Walker responded that the area around the bar will be screened, and said that neighbors were fine with the existing parapet. Walker added that the existing parapet wall is 4-feet and 8-inches tall, which he argued already provides screening. Adding a 6-foot screen on top of that would not only interfere with the views, but put a financial strain on Daniels.
“At this time, the applicant already spent significant finances to renovate the property, and that would represent a significant financial burden,” Walker said.
“[We submitted] the letters of support from all to the owners of adjacent properties,” he added. “They all toured the property with Ms. Daniels and are in agreement that the current [design], with the four-foot parapet wall, will not represent a nuisance in regards to the lights or sounds from the property.”
ZBA chairman Brian Sanchez wondered whether the 6-foot requirement was excessive. Radzevich responded that it has been a standard practice in recent years, mentioning six rooftops approved, mostly on the South and West sides.
In a recent interview, Taliaferro said that he toured the building in November, and he was satisfied with the revised plans.
“I have spoken with the owner in regards to [noise] as well, and they assured me that any music and noise that’s played during the dining experience, they would keep at a minimum,” he said. “And also, there’s no plan to have any type of rooftop events outside of dining. And that was my concern from the very beginning.”
Taliaferro said that he hasn’t heard any concerns from the neighbors.
“As part of the agreement with me, there would be no rooftop parities or events,” he added.
