Real Estate Shuffle Around Marquette

Marquette now has a little empire in commercial real estate, and how they manage it has considerable implications for the neighborhood and the student body.

A lot of student attention has focused on Sweeney’s College Books, the very welcome alternative to the University-sponsored monopoly of the Bookmarq.

As we have reported, Sweeney’s has been forced to leave their current location in a (now) Marquette-owned building at Wisconsin Avenue and 16th Street and look for a new place in the neighborhood to do business.

Also forced out is Dany’s Foods, located just north of Sweeney’s on 17th Street. Owner Adnan Shanaa is a bit bitter about having to leave. He explains that he has been doing business at that location for 24 years, and laments that “Marquette wants to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.” Shanna says that, financially, he’s “just happy to pay his bills.”

One business which apparently won’t be leaving is Ziggies. Ziggie explained to us that he has an eight-year lease that does not expire until 2015.

Not part of Marquette’s little empire, but still part of the neighborhood scene is China Garden Restaurant. Manager Jun confirms that they are looking for new quarters and will be moving about the end of the school year.