Chicago steakhouse to bear Michael Jordan's name

After a 12-year absence, the name of basketball great Michael Jordan will again grace the front of a Chicago restaurant.

A Michael Jordan's Steak House is planned for the InterContinental Chicago Hotel on the city's famed Michigan Avenue.

Plans call for construction of the restaurant, which will have a street-level bar and second-floor dining room, to begin in June, replacing the eatery currently in the space.

"It really didn't provide what that hotel needed, which is a very special occasion restaurant," Richard Moreau, an executive vice president of Strategic Hotels told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday.

The restaurant will be the third Michael Jordan's Steak House. The others are in the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut and in New York City's Grand Central Terminal.

While the new restaurant will bear Jordan's name, InterContinental will manage it. The Michael Jordan name is being licensed from Chicago-based Jump Higher LLC., which is managed by The Cornerstone Restaurant Group, which has a relationship with Jordan dating back to the original Michael Jordan's Restaurant, which was located near downtown Chicago.

"I think the Michael Jordan brand has to be in a very sort of landmark location," said Cornerstone's CEO David Zadikoff.

He and Jordan were initially looking to lease a third location and own and operate the restaurant themselves, Zadikoff said.

"But given the hotel, the make-up of the kitchens, and other issues, it was simpler just to do it this way," he told the Tribune. "So we went with a simple solution for a major location."

Zadikoff in 2004 planned to close a restaurant west of Chicago's Loop in which Jordan is a partner and replace it with one of the steak houses, which were operating then. But Jordan objected, saying he wanted a more visible downtown location.

Jordan and Zadikoff will receive a percentage of the restaurant's annual revenue, known as a licensing fee.

The original Michael Jordan's Restaurant closed in 1999 during a legal dispute with its controlling partners. Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, won the legal battle the following year, freeing him to launch the steakhouse chain.