CHICAGO — The owner of a shuttered upscale restaurant in Rogers Park is fighting back against an eviction action brought by Loyola University, claiming the university itself is responsible for keeping the restaurant closed more than a year, even as it demands he pay back rent for the months he was earning no income from the restaurant he said university administrators recruited him to open on that site.
In May, Loyola University of Chicago asked a Cook County judge to evict Olszewski's restaurant Onward, from a Rogers Park building the school owns at 6580 N. Sheridan Road. The restaurant, locked down for more than a year by Loyola as a COVID-19 mitigation effort, is in a building shared with a Hampton Inn and other businesses, just northwest of the university campus on Chicago’s far North Side.
Michael Olszewski
| Onward Chicago
At the time, Loyola said Onward hadn’t made its $10,000 monthly rent payment since September 2019. But Olszewski filed his own motion in July, through which he and Schaumburg attorney Richard Carbonara asserted Loyola was simply trying to cover itself for a bad investment.
In its recent filings, Onward reiterated the history of the restaurant: the university recruited Olszewski, as a “highly accomplished restaurateur” and a Loyola “alumnus and benefactor” to open a “fine dining restaurant” in the hotel building. Olszewski previously operated Grace, one of 14 restaurants in the U.S. at the time to be awarded three Michelin stars. Grace closed in 2017 following a falling out between Olszewski and his chefs, according to published reports.
Olszewski expressed misgivings to Loyola officials over the chances of successfully operating such an upscale restaurant in the East Rogers Park neighborhood, noting the school’s other development activities in the neighborhood engendered hostility from some neighbors over concerns about “gentrification.”
The counterclaim details Olszewski’s personal seven-figure investment in the project and levels allegations against Loyola, as landlord, for breaching lease terms and causing construction delays of more than three months. Among the issues were failing to build a wall dividing Onward and Argo Tea, an unsecure site that resulted in the theft of Ownard’s plans and materials. Olszewski further accused Loyola for failing to reimburse Onward for the loss of those materials and the loss in value of rent during the lease’s first year.
Loyola “wrongly demanded” Onward pay rent for months it wasn’t allowed to use the building, according to the motion, and “demand for rent and possession constitutes a breach” of the lease’s terms and conditions.
Even while other restaurants reopened for in-person or carryout service, Loyola kept Onward locked down, Olszewski said.
In the countersuit, Olszewski asserts his contract with Loyola should have entitled Onward to 10 years of continuous operation on the site.
"Notably, Plaintiff did not invest any funds in the project, and agreed to support Defendant in the long process to establish the restaurant adjacent to its Rogers Park campus for the benefit of its students, faculty, and staff," Onward wrote in a brief filed in response to Loyola's lawsuit.
"Once the pandemic hit, however, it became impossible for the restaurant to operate and the Lease’s intended purpose of having Defendant operate a sit-down, fine dining restaurant was frustrated. Thus, the parties were mutually mistaken about a material fact – that the restaurant would operate for the remainder of the initial ten-year term after its grand opening."
He argued Loyola's refusal to allow him to reopen and attempt to earn money to pay the demanded rent, should be grounds for a "complete abatement" of rent for Onward.
The defamation complaint targets Wayne Magdziarz, Loyola’s senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief business officer, as well as David Beall, associate vice president of business operations. Olszewski cited a March 19, 2021, email in which Magdziarz called him “untrustworthy and a blowhard” who has “lied to my face on numerous occasions” and a March 5 email in which Beall called Olszewski “a nut job.”
He further said Loyola is responsible for its employees “because their libelous statements were made within the scope of their employment” using university email, in response to and copying to other Loyola employees.
Loyola is represented by attorney Michael Griffin, of the firm of Sanford Kahn, of Chicago.