There’s a new and potentially soothing store coming to Rodin Place in Logan Square. This month, members of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association voted to not to oppose franchisees application to open a Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa at 2000 Hamilton St., via email. Plans are for a September opening, but before that renovations must occur.

The store

“Everything is honky dory,” said LSNA zoning chair Ed Panek. Panek explained LSNA members voted via email because the Hand & Stone franchisees applied for an accelerated ZBA hearing without realizing that hearing might occur before they had a chance for the board to vote.

Franchisees presented to near neighbors on May 31, according to the LSNA website, but were scheduled to appear before the ZBA before the LSNA’s June meeting. According to Panek, as soon as the owners realized their oversight they acted in a conscientious…

A reader checked in last week, wondering what’s cooking at 1930 Chestnut St.

Hmmm

He was referring to the first floor commercial space of the Aldine Trust Company building, which was constructed in 1930 and designed by Arthur W. Hall. Perhaps not coincidentally, the original Aldine Hotel was located just down the street, and was demolished (and replaced in part by the Boyd Theater) in the years that immediately preceded the construction of this building. In 2003, Turchi Properties converted the upper floors from office space to 144 rental apartments.

It's a nice lookin' building

The first floor commercial space was most recently a Hollywood Video, which succumbed to the whole “nobody goes to video stores anymore” phenomenon. It’s been vacant for several years now. We made some phone calls, dug around…