Gold Coast's largest storefronts have a size problem, and this fall three new tenants are each trying a different fix. The old Esquire Theater at 58 E. Oak St. is set to get its third restaurant in under 15 years. The sixth floor of the former Barneys at 15 E. Oak St. has been taken over by a rooftop restaurant. On Rush Street, the former Glossier space is getting the Midwest's first Meta Lab. The theater's track record explains why the other two look the way they do.
Eighty-Eight Years at 58 E. Oak
The Esquire Theater opened in 1938, later became a movie house and closed in 2006, according to Eater Chicago's account of the building. Since then it has run through tenants about once a decade:
- 2012: Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House moved into the renovated theater and later added an upstairs bar, the Esquire Champagne Room.
- November 2019: Cooper's Hawk, the Downers Grove-based wine-focused chain, opened its only Chicago location in the former Del Frisco's space.
- July 17, 2023: Cooper's Hawk served its last meal there after announcing the closure in May, citing underperformance.
- Late fall 2026: Esquire, a Japanese-influenced luxury steakhouse from M Street Collective, is the expected next tenant.
Eater's 2023 reporting found a pattern in the first two tenants. Del Frisco's and Cooper's Hawk were both chains that took the Gold Coast address to raise their brand's profile. Cooper's Hawk aimed the location at its wine club members, especially tourists, and brought in celebrity chefs such as Tom Colicchio and Tyler Florence for events. Founder and CEO Tim McEnery told Crain's that tourists did come. By Eater's account, that still wasn't enough to carry a 24,000-square-foot space.
That figure is the starting point for everything below. On a street better known for designer boutiques than big dining rooms, 24,000 square feet is a lot of room to fill every night.
A Private Club Inside a 265-Seat Room
M Street Collective's plan, as Eater described it in its fall preview on Sept. 11, keeps the theater's scale and adds a much smaller room inside it. The main dining room seats 265, with a menu built around wagyu, sushi, caviar and seafood that uses fish-aging techniques, plus rare whiskies and a long sake list. The design takes its cues from Hollywood's Golden Age, and a retractable glass window will open onto Oak Street.
The detail that sets this version apart is ŌakSho, a private club with a 12-seat omakase. The two earlier tenants used the building to put a brand in front of as many people as possible. Esquire pairs a large public room with a 12-seat counter that most diners will never sit at, which gives the building a second source of revenue that doesn't depend on filling 265 seats.
The new restaurant also keeps something from the last one. The multi-story wine tower, which holds 5,000 bottles and was left behind by the previous tenant, Esquire by Cooper's Hawk, is staying in place. Inheriting a fixture that size means one less major piece the new operator has to build in a space that has already been fitted out twice.
The opening date has moved. In a May 29 caption, Crain's said Esquire was set to open "later this summer." Eater's Sept. 11 preview lists it as "Late-Fall." As of Sept. 30 the restaurant hasn't opened, and no firm date has been announced.
The Sixth-Floor Approach
A block west, ARLA takes a different approach: it leases only part of the building. ARLA comes from Hospitality Included and chef-partner Soo Ahn. It took the entire sixth floor of the former Barneys building at 15 E. Oak St., where Fred's at Barneys used to be. Time Out Chicago put the space at 8,500 square feet. That's about a third of the room Cooper's Hawk couldn't make work at the Esquire.
ARLA does much of its business outdoors and up high. Block Club Chicago described two terraces with 60 seats between them. One faces the corner of Oak and Rush, and the other overlooks Mariano Park. Ahn described the menu as a mix of Japanese "precision and umami" and Mediterranean "fire and generosity and warmth."
Before opening, the restaurant announced dinner-only hours: 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Both Block Club and Time Out reported a June 18 opening date. The coverage we found was published before opening, so check current hours directly with the restaurant before booking a fall dinner on the terrace.
The approach makes sense for a building like this one. A sixth-floor restaurant doesn't need foot traffic off Oak Street. It needs people who decide to go up, and the terraces and park view give them a reason the street-level shops can't.
Rush Street Gets a Product Floor
The third new tenant isn't a restaurant. In August, Axios reported that Meta would open its first Midwest Meta Lab at 932 N. Rush St., the former Glossier space, selling AI glasses and VR headsets. Crain's confirmed the location the next day. Meta VP Matt Jacobson said the company picked Chicago for its culture and creative energy and expected to open "ahead of the holiday shopping season."
The tenant is new, but the strategy is familiar on this street. Like Del Frisco's and Cooper's Hawk, Meta is using a Gold Coast address as the face of a first-in-the-region location. The difference is that a store selling wearable tech is built around trying devices on and getting a demo, which suits a smaller shop like a former Glossier far better than a 24,000-square-foot theater. We found no report after mid-August confirming an opening date, so for now the store is still listed as coming.
Where Each Space Stands on Sept. 30
| Address | Former use | New tenant | Status as last reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58 E. Oak St. | Esquire Theater; Del Frisco's; Cooper's Hawk | Esquire and ŌakSho, M Street Collective | ETA "Late-Fall" per Eater, Sept. 11 |
| 15 E. Oak St., 6th floor | Fred's at Barneys | ARLA, Hospitality Included and Soo Ahn | Opening announced for June 18 |
| 932 N. Rush St. | Glossier | Meta Lab | Expected before the holiday shopping season |
| 1037 N. Rush St. | Carmine's | Carmine's, renovated | Reopened Jan. 20, 2026 |
The last row shows a different answer to the same problem. Carmine's, a Rosebud Restaurant Group restaurant, reopened on Jan. 20 after a two-year, multimillion-dollar renovation. Rosebud founder Alex Dana said the goal was to honor the restaurant's history while making it relevant to a new generation. The reopened menu brought back square noodles, eight-finger cavatelli and meatball salad alongside Italian steakhouse dishes. Carmine's kept its space through a long renovation and didn't hand it to a new concept. Of the four addresses in the table, it's the only one still run by the same operator.
On the Calendar Before the Holidays
The Esquire and Meta Lab openings are both expected in the weeks between Halloween and the holiday shopping season. The nearest confirmed date on the Gold Coast calendar is local. The Gold Coast Neighbors Association is holding Ghouly Park, its Halloween event, on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Goudy Park, on the southeast corner of Astor and Goethe. No registration is required.
When the window at 58 E. Oak St. finally opens onto the street, it will mark the fourth chapter for a building that opened in 1938. This time the operator is betting on a 12-seat room inside a 265-seat restaurant.
Oak Street's large spaces are a good reminder that the size and layout of a property can matter as much as its address, and that question comes up in every building we walk through. If you're weighing a Gold Coast property and want to talk through what its space, structure and surroundings mean for value, Taylor Nirchi is glad to help. Let's Connect.
