CHICAGO - A Chicago businessman and restaurateur is trying to keep alive his case claiming Loyola University violated the law and their word when they evicted his fine dining restaurant, Onward, from a university-owned building in Rogers Park after a year of allegedly keeping the restaurant closed for more than a year amid the Covid pandemic.
Since last fall, restaurateur Michael Olszewski has been in court, attempting to secure court orders requiring Loyola to pay him as much as $1.5 million to cover the amount Olszewski claims he sunk into the Onward restaurant property, allegedly at Loyola's request nearly six years ago.
In response, however, Loyola has asked a Cook County judge to toss Olszewski's claim, saying the university justly evicted Olszewski's restaurant, claiming Olszewski and Onward have allegedly caused Loyola "problems ... for years."
Michael Olszewski
| Onward Chicago
In court documents, Loyola asserts Onward notably struggled to pay rent consistently, and allegedly did not pay rent at all after Onward shut down, never to reopen, in March 2020, at the onset of the societal and economic restrictions imposed in Illinois by Gov. JB Pritzker and strictly adhered to by Loyola throughout 2020 and into 2021.
Olszewski, however, says Loyola gave him a raw deal, allegedly enticing him to invest in the property, before shutting the restaurant down, evicting him when he couldn't earn any money to pay rent, and now allegedly refusing to allow him to recover some of his investment.
"This is all a shame," Olszewski said in comments to The Cook County Record. "This would've been a great thing for Rogers Park. We would've made history there.
"But they never really gave me the chance."
According to court documents, the Onward restaurant venture launched around 2018. It was the result of efforts by Loyola to recruit Olszewski, a "highly accomplished restaurateur" and a self-proclaimed proud alumnus and donor to Loyola, to open a fine dining restaurant in a hotel building the university owned at the corner of Sheridan Road and Albion Avenue in Chicago's far north Rogers Park neighborhood.
Olszewski has a history of operating restaurants in Chicago, including the former Grace restaurant, which had secured three Michelin stars before closing in 2017 amid a falling out between Olszewski and his chefs, according to published reports. Olszewski told The Cook County Record he is now currently working on opening a new, still unnamed restaurant in the West Loop.
According to court documents and his statements, at the time Loyola recruited him, Olszewski expressed doubts about the ability of a fine dining establishment to succeed in Rogers Park, far from the Loop and lower income demographics. Olzsweski said he told the university from the beginning that the restaurant needed time to "catch on," given its location.
"I told them it would take a year or two, at least," he said.
However, Olszewski and Loyola still entered into business together. Olszewski signed a lease and claims to have sunk more than $1 million of improvements into the space, turning it from a dirt floor and bare walls to the promised white tablecloth upscale dining establishment.
According to court documents filed by Loyola, the lease included "many terms favorable to Onward, including 12 months of rent abatement, an extended term, no personal guaranty despite Onward being a sole member LLC with no other known assets, and a below-market rent."
Olszewski opened the restaurant in early 2019. Olszewski said he had targeted the opening for autumn 2018, hoping to take advantage of the busy holiday dining season. However, he blamed Loyola for allegedly slowing the opening by allegedly failing to "live up to their duties as a landlord."
He said these included an alleged mix-up in providing electricity to the restaurant site for three months; failure to secure the building, resulting in a theft of building materials; and allegedly failing to building a wall between the restaurant space and a neighboring tea shop.
Olszewski has also accused Loyola of failing to remove graffiti from the restaurant's exterior walls and "permitted vagrants to loiter" around the restaurant, harming Onward's "first class, fine dining appearance" and generating complaints from customers.
Olszewski also accused Loyola of allowing the hotel to "open a competing bar and ... a roof top restaurant," allegedly violating its assurances that Onward would face no competition from the hotel.
In the complaint now pending against the university, Olszewski claimed "Loyola seemed utterly indifferent to Onward's financial success."
According to the complaint, after it opened, Onward enjoyed a steady increase in business and traffic, allegedly achieving net cash flow for the first time in February 2020.
However, a month later, as the Covid pandemic arrived, the restaurant closed, and never reopened.
About a year later, Loyola initiated eviction proceedings, and the university and Olszewski have been in court against each other ever since. Olszewski countersued at that time, claiming the university operated in bad faith and moved quickly amid the pandemic to ensure Onward never reopened.
Loyola won a judgment in its favor in the eviction case, taking full possession of the property in May 2023.
In October 2023, Olszewski filed his own suit against the university. In that action, Olszewski's company, Onward MSO, claims Loyola breached their contract; wrongfully evicted Onward; has allegedly wrongfully refused to allow Olszewski to recover more than $1 million in property and improvements from the space; and allegedly engaged in a "scheme to defraud," violating Illinois' Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Olszewski says the university owes him perhaps as much as $1.5 million.
Property in question includes three fireplaces, allegedly worth $35,000; lights and chandeliers, $30,000; three full bathrooms, $35,000; tables, chairs, couches and cabinets, $35,000; stainless steel counters, shelving and sinks, $25,000; and more.
Olszewski asserts Loyola has never given him a realistic opportunity to retrieve and remove the property from the restaurant. Further, he noted communications he has presented to the court among Loyola administrators about Onward indicate the university was long seeking "to kick Onward to the curb."
In his complaint, he noted Loyola administrators would "openly mock" Olszewski, allegedly calling him a "nut job" and a "piece of work." And he cited a March 5, 2021, communication between Loyola administrators, in which one stated the university should "be sure we get the $10,000 fireplaces in the divorce."
In response to Olszewski's claims of conversion of property, Loyola says Olszewski should have and could have removed the property at any point in the months after Loyola told him he was being evicted. Because the property remained even after a judge granted the eviction, Loyola asserts the property now belongs to the university, under the terms of the lease.
Further, Loyola says Olszewski is misinterpreting the terms of the lease, by saying he still owns the physical improvements to the site, including improvements built into the structure.
The university says this would essentially mean Olszewski is arguing the terms of his lease have made him something of a co-owner. The university says such a conclusion would be "absurd" and would allow Olszewski and Onward essentially to hold the restaurant site "hostage," unless Loyola paid Olszewski.
Loyola has asked the court to dismiss Olszewski's action.
Olszewski, however, says he is seeking the chance to "get my day in court, before a jury."
"I just want to recoup what I spent there, what I put in," Olszewski said, in comments to The Cook County Record. "And I think Loyola should be reprimanded by a jury."
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Loyola's motion to dismiss on Monday, April 22.
Olszewski and Onward are represented by attorneys Andrew L. Platt and Mark L. Evans, of the firm of Levin Ginsburg, of Chicago.
Loyola is represented by attorney Michael Griffin, of Griffin Legal P.C., of Chicago.