BUSINESS OF CANNABIS: The wild ride for weed companies isn’t over. PAGE 13
REAL ESTATE: A former school turned home in Humboldt Park. PAGE 31
CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | DECEMBER 5, 2022 | $3.50
A rehab wave that was revitalizing homes on the South Side and in the south suburbs is drying up
Belinda Ewell
Interest rates slow neighborhood comebacks
JOHN R. BOEHM
BY DENNIS RODKIN Belinda Ewell has bought, rehabbed and sold a few dozen homes in Chatham and other South Side neighborhoods over the past eight years, at the rate of four or five a year, but she plans to complete just one in 2023. And that’s only because work on the property, an Avalon Park bungalow, was already underway when the Federal Reserve’s inflation-busting interest rate hikes torpedoed the housing market. “Interest rates are pretty much chilling things in our South Side and south suburbs market,” said Ewell, who heads B&B Realty. Borrowing costs “have a big effect on buying power when you’re in the $300,000, $350,000 market. I had to slow down.” The Fed’s series of increases, designed to tame rampant inflation, have had the intended effect of reining in an epochal boom in the nation’s housing market that was verging into bubble territory. That’s a positive, overall. But one of the negative effects of See NEIGHBORHOODS on Page 28
This scam is costing Chicago restaurants big ‘Friendly fraud’ is on the rise, and it’s no way to treat a friend Imagine dining at a restaurant, paying with your credit card, then later reporting the charge as fraud and claiming a refund. Called “friendly fraud,” this scam is spreading across Chicago’s restaurant scene. Retailers have long struggled with friendly fraud, often perpetrated by consumers who order goods online and report the merchandise as damaged or not received. As the pandemic forced restaurants to shift their sales online, their exposure to friendly fraud increased. Industry data shows the rate of credit
card chargebacks to restaurants has quadrupled since COVID-19 hit, putting more pressure on profits at a time when rising costs are squeezing their slim margins. When a customer requests a refund, restaurants lose the dollar value of the meal and the server’s tip. On top of that, they pay a fee to the credit card company or processor. Add labor costs if the restaurant decides to fight the refund. “It’s brutal,” says Louie Alexakis, managing partner of upscale Greek restaurant Avli, with five locations in the Chicago See SCAM on Page 29
JOHN R. BOEHM
BY ALLY MAROTTI
Louie Alexakis, managing partner of upscale Greek restaurant Avli.
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DAN MCGRATH
THE TAKEAWAY
For Chicago sports, it’s a bleak picture. PAGE 2
Head of Tillman Foundation is in a new documentary. PAGE 6
12/2/22 3:15 PM