Whole Foods Opening in Wicker Park's Former CVS Space

Whole Foods confirmed Friday it’s opening a location inside Wicker Park’s landmarked Home Bank and Trust Company Building at 1200 N. Ashland Ave., ending a three-year vacancy left behind when CVS shuttered the ground floor in early 2023.

A company spokesperson verified the plan but wouldn’t offer a projected opening date or additional specifics. Amazon, which owns Whole Foods, had stayed quiet on the project despite months of online speculation before the confirmation landed.

The building stands at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Division Street, directly across from the Polish Triangle. Completed in 1926, it was designed by Karl M. Vitzthum and Co., one of the most prolific bank architects in the region. The firm drew plans for more than 50 banks across the Midwest, according to a city landmarks report. CVS occupied the ground floor until the pharmacy chain pulled out as part of a broader company-wide restructuring. Upper floors kept tenants throughout the vacancy period. The basement, for a stretch, hosted a magic-themed bar called the Cauldron.

Not vacant, then not quiet.

Last week the city’s buildings department posted a renovation permit for interior demolition of “nonstructural partitions” in sections of the basement and the first and second floors. That permit, visible in city records, is the clearest official signal the project is moving forward, whatever the timeline turns out to be.

Ald. Daniel La Spata, whose 1st Ward takes in the site, said his office has talked with Whole Foods, including about how to manage loading access at the busy Ashland and Division corner. He hasn’t gotten firm answers on scope or schedule.

“It’s a space that’s been empty for years,” La Spata said. “There are few great uses for that much square footage, and I think anytime you can bring more jobs and bring more fresh grocery opportunities to a community, that’s a great call.”

La Spata didn’t stop there. “2026 is the year of grocery store announcements in the 1st Ward,” he said, a line that references Trader Joe’s plans to take over another shuttered CVS on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square.

Block Club Chicago first reported the Whole Foods confirmation before the company’s spokesperson weighed in.

The building’s owner, RDM Companies, is also pushing forward a 13-story apartment tower on the surface parking lot behind the former CVS footprint. That project would drop new residents right next to what could become an anchor retail draw for the immediate neighborhood. The proximity isn’t accidental. Developers building residential density want ground-floor retail that can sustain foot traffic, and a Whole Foods with its volume does that work.

The Polish Triangle corridor has absorbed years of high-end development and restaurant openings that pushed property values up but didn’t necessarily fill storefronts at scale. The old bank building’s ground floor represents a specific problem: it’s enormous, it’s landmarked, and most tenants can’t absorb that much square footage without a specific kind of business model. A full-service grocer fits.

The Wicker Park stretch of Ashland has become something of a landing zone for corporate chains willing to retrofit historic bones. In 2024, Barnes and Noble moved into the Noel State Bank building at 1601 N. Milwaukee, another protected structure that had sat underused. The Whole Foods move follows that pattern, with a larger footprint and a building that carries more architectural weight in the neighborhood’s civic memory.

Vitzthum’s firm finished the Home Bank and Trust Company Building 100 years ago this year. It’s spent the last three of those years waiting for a tenant that could match its square footage.