Uptown Cabaret sets closing date as construction ramps up for $700 million development
First a diner. Now a strip club.
With construction crews breaking ground last month on a $700 million high-rise development, Uptown Cabaret strip club is eyeing its last day of open doors.
The building is set to be demolished as Chicago developer Riverside Investment and Development begins work on Queensbridge Collective. The project includes a 42-story apartment tower with 409 units, and a 35-story office tower. The 3-acre site is at 1111 S. Tryon St. — between South End and uptown.
Uptown Cabaret, which opened in 1995 at 108 E. Morehead St., will close after July 1, owner Brian Dominick told The Charlotte Observer. He did not say if the club might be sold or reopen elsewhere.
Dominick also owns the iconic Midnight Diner, which operated for 12 years on the same South End site. It closed in September to make way for the development.
Queensbridge Collective is expected to be complete by mid-2025. Uptown Cabaret was not planned to be part of the new project, according to Riverside. The club originally was going to be demolished in June, a Riverside spokeswoman told the Observer in May.
Demolition will now happen shortly after the business closes, Riverside’s chief operating office Tony Scacco said Thursday in an email.
About Queensbridge Collective
The 42-story apartment tower will have pickleball and basketball courts on the roof. It also will have a golf simulator, coworking space, private dining connected to a restaurant and pool on the top floor.
There will be 30,000 square feet of retail, the developer has said.
The site is a short walk to the Carson LYNX Blue Line station.
Midnight Diner finds a new home
While the future of Uptown Cabaret is unclear, its counterpart on the property has already found a new home.
The stainless steel boxcar diner was transported in November about 1 mile away to a nearly 1-acre site at 420 E. Trade St. The diner that serves homemade comfort foods reopened in May.
Midnight Diner’s 100 full- and part-time employees worked at Dominick’s other restaurant, Red Eye Diner, until reopening. Red Eye Diner at Queen City Quarter, formerly Epicentre, is less than a quarter mile away from the new Midnight Diner site in uptown.
Dominick also is expanding the Midnight Diner concept. A second location is expected to open this year at 6538 N. Tryon St., the site of the former Old Hickory Bar-B-Q at the Tom Hunter Station light rail stop.
This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 12:02 PM.
