Changes in Hyde Park

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
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<p>For those parents, alums and prospects that have not been able to follow all the news in Hyde Park, let me share a bit with you that I learned in a visit there this past weekend.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The COOP may go out of business and be replaced by either a Treasure Island or a dominicks. The failed 47th street store is still vacant and the ongoing expense is dragging the COOP towards insolvency. UofC has proposed a deal whereby it would forgive a good deal of debt and such in return for a voluntary dissolution of the business. In spite of all its financial difficulties, when we visited the store Sunday, it was well stocked, as well as it was when we lived in Hyde Park two years ago. [Chicago</a> Business News, Analysis & Articles | U of C narrows search for possible co-op replacement | Crain’s](<a href=“http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?rssFeed=news;id=27251&seenIt=1]Chicago”>http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?rssFeed=news;id=27251&seenIt=1)
<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-co-opnov16,1,26462.story?ctrack=1&cset=true[/url]”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-co-opnov16,1,26462.story?ctrack=1&cset=true&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li><p>In a bit longer term, the U may develop a Marriott hotel on part of the Dr’s Hospital site at 58th and Stony. This project is controversial, like any change in Hyde Park, so it may take a few years of fighting to get it off the ground. More here: [Chicago</a> Maroon » Community leaders decry hotel plans](<a href=“http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2007/09/30/community-leaders-decry-hotel-plans/]Chicago”>http://maroon.uchicago.edu/online_edition/news/2007/09/30/community-leaders-decry-hotel-plans/)</p></li>
</ul>

2

<p>“The failed 47th street store is still vacant and the ongoing expense is dragging the COOP towards insolvency.”</p>

<p>Umm . . . I think you have your tense wrong. When an organization essentially presents its members with a choice between bankruptcy (with the support of a plurality of its board) and going out of business pursuant to a non-bankruptcy deal with a significant creditor (supported by the majority), and its expenses have exceeded its revenues for several years, with no plan that would reverse that, and it has failed to pay the rent on its operating location for months . . . well, the correct statement would be " . . . the ongoing expense has made the COOP insolvent." </p>

<p>As a general matter, there are two commonly used tests for “insolvency”: liabilities exceed the fair market value of assets, and unable to pay debts as they become due. The Hyde Park Co-op crossed both those bridges some time ago.</p>

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<p>excessively clarifying a tiny detail that nobody on CC could possibly care about is the mark of a true internet warrior <em>high five</em></p>

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<p>No. I just thought it was a little funny . . . sort of like the “your grandmother is on the roof” joke. I have just about 0 stake in the politics of the Hyde Park Co-op, although I have heard extensive discussions of them. It seemed a little silly to say that it was heading “towards” insolvency, with the implication that maybe it wouldn’t get there, as opposed to acknowledging that it has been insolvent for a long time, with deleterious effects on the entire Hyde Park community.</p>

<p>Perhaps . . . just perhaps! . . . there was a little needling of newmassdad involved, too. He is always upbeat and positive about everything connected with the University of Chicago, something that in general I appreciate. But in a situation like this, his natural tendency to see glasses as half-full rather than half-empty seems to have led him to suggest – for no particular reason that I understand – that there might be some water in a glass that’s bone dry.</p>

<p>(Don’t read too much into my metaphor, though. The story of the Co-op is very sad, but as far as I can tell the University has done the right thing consistently, both in carrying the Co-op, and in ensuring that there will be a financially viable supermarket in its neighborhood. The bankruptcy strategy would have been primarily an anti-University move, preventing it from controlling who replaces the Co-op, but imposing a lot of uncertainty, delay, and cost on everyone involved, without any kind of guarantee that the outcome would be any better. I think what’s going on is making the best of a bad situation.)</p>

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<p>JHS is right, there are two commonly used tests for insolvency: liabilities greater than asset’s market value and the inability to pay debt on the due date. COOP has been through this some time back, as JHS mentioned… and I am sure, as with other financial decisions UChicago have made in the past, it will make the right decision, whether it be a work-out plan, an extended deadline, or what not.<br>
And I really hope that COOP stays there, it is a great place and is one of the better things UChicago has to offer :(</p>

<p>P.S. I am gonna be very sad.</p>

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<p>Ah, a discussion in true U. Chicago style. </p>

<p>First, let’s discuss insolvency. Except for Wikipedia and perhaps a few posters here, the most common usage of insolvency is inability to pay one’s bills. Of course, even this definition does not allow for creditor forbearance, which is common. Liabilities exceeding assets? That’s an old school definition. If this were true, our airlines would never have been allowed to retreat to Ch 11 to void labor contracts and so forth. :)</p>

<p>Whether the COOP is insolvent by any definition I can’t say. I’m not a member and have not seen their financials. Perhaps JHS or pp1 have. I can tell you their shelves were pretty full, so either they’re still paying their bills or they’re getting credit from a lot of vendors, and I doubt the latter is happening. But if anyone wants to argue finance, start a new thread?</p>

<p>Regarding the “loss” of something as pp1 laments, I wonder if those lamenting the possible loss have been to the COOP in the past few years, or better, shopped there regularly? I have, and can tell you these days it is a poor excuse for a grocery store, though I agree that was not the case 25 years ago. But it is not 25 years ago, in case some posters have not noticed. </p>

<p>So, the coop a “great place”? I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.</p>

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<p>Physicsphun, you may be thinking of the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore, not the Hyde Park Co-Op grocery store… the former is not going anywhere anytime soon.</p>

<p>The latter is a fledgling grocery store. Overpriced and understocked. It’s not the worst grocery store in the world, but it could be worlds better.</p>