The advent of spring and easing of COVID-19 restrictions that had seen many a restaurant go out of business also has brought the end of the popular Chicago eatery Santorini, with landlords seeking to recoup losses too.

Greektown has changed in the city as well, with people and restaurants they like moving to the suburbs, and even a popular spot like Santorini couldn't survive the one-two punch of the pandemic and neighborhood shifts.

“The closing was abrupt,” George Reveliotis, the commissioner for the special service area group (SSA) that serves Greektown restaurant and business owners told the site Chicago Eater, Santorini having a 31-year run.

He said Santorini’s owners have struck a deal to redevelop the space, as part of a grander scheme to reinvigorate the neighborhood corridor and that another restaurant may surface there.

“The alternative to a rebirth is death or abandonment, right?” he said, as he's working to keep Greektown going. He co-owns Artopolis Bakery & Cafe, which has spent 21 years there and is planning some renovations too.

“We believe in the area, we believe in the concept so much,” Reveliotis said.