Marie's Pizza and Liquors property in Albany Park is listed for sale at $1.7 million
The property where Marie’s Pizza and Liquors, a beloved Albany Park pizza joint and liquor store that opened in the 1940s, is located is for sale for $1.7 million, according to Darwin PW Realty.
It comes more than a year after the three-generation family business was “temporarily” closed while the owner helped a sick family member, Block Club Chicago reported.
The 8,700-square-foot building sits on a quarter-acre lot at the corner of West Lawrence Avenue and North Kedvale Avenue. An agent with the real estate group described it as a “redevelopment or gut rehab opportunity only.”
The agent declined to comment for this story.
Theodore Karavidas opened the shop in 1940 as a tavern and small packaged goods store, and was bought out by his then-21-year-old son George Karavidas eight years later. By 1950, they had started serving pizza and knocking down walls inside to make it the restaurant and liquor store it became known as.
The block where the restaurant is located is dedicated to George Karavidas, whose daughter Nadine Karavidas later took over the business.
Amie Zander, the executive director of the Pulaski Elston Business Association, said Marie’s is the “number one” thing she gets calls about — questions about it reopening or being redeveloped have flooded her phone lines since the business had less consistent hours after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zander, 47, a lifelong Northwest Side resident, had been going since she was a kid and had fond memories of the '40s-inspired tinsel Christmas decorations the restaurant would be adorned in during the holidays, as well as its “iconic” Chicago tavern-style thin crust pizza.
“So many of our local businesses didn’t have the staff and the capacity to operate the way they once did,” Zander said. “I’ve been going there since I was a kid. … It’s gonna be a big loss for the neighborhood. There was that glimmer of hope until we heard it was officially listed."
After closing its dining room in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant opened intermittently for takeout before closing again in 2023. In October, the property was used to film upcoming episodes of “Chicago PD.”
Zander said the neighborhood could use another place to get pizza, as the area has lost many of its sit-down restaurants and pizza joints. However, she said retail would also be welcome.
“Our part of Lawrence doesn’t have a walkable retail district,” Zander said. “It’s a really busy drive-thru neighborhood, so making more options for people to stop is kind of what we strive for. ... Hopefully this just means new beginnings for the neighborhood in 2025.”