Trader Joe’s Signs Lease for Logan Square Store at Former CVS

Trader Joe’s executed a lease on Feb. 24, 2026, to open a neighborhood store at 2053 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Logan Square, local officials and commercial real estate listings confirmed. The site is the former CVS pharmacy that has remained vacant since 2017, making this the first confirmed long-term tenant for the property in nearly a decade.

The building at 2053 N. Milwaukee Ave. has been a neighborhood eyesore and an intermittent subject of redevelopment talks since CVS closed operations there in 2017. Commercial listings tied to the lease include renderings and brokerage information that identify Trader Joe’s as the new occupant, signaling a conversion of the standalone Walgreens/CVS-era footprint into a grocery format tailored for Logan Square shoppers.

City and neighborhood stakeholders will now shift focus to the practical steps that follow a signed lease. The executed agreement replaces a spell of vacancy that stretched roughly nine years and positions Trader Joe’s to reuse an existing retail parcel on a busy north Milwaukee corridor. For employees and managers at Trader Joe’s, the address gives a concrete site for future hiring and store leadership placement in Chicago’s northwest neighborhoods.

The lease confirmation came through municipal channels and commercial property listings on Feb. 24, 2026, and it ties Trader Joe’s to a prominent corner location in Logan Square. That corner has seen incremental retail turnover over the last decade, but none of the prior proposals filled the CVS vacancy long term. The new lease establishes Trader Joe’s as the first agency to secure the property with publicly noted lease paperwork.

With the lease in hand, attention will turn to permitting, buildout specifications, and a timeline for store opening at 2053 N. Milwaukee Ave. The property’s history, a CVS that left in 2017 and nearly a decade of vacancy, means neighbors and store staff will likely watch permitting and construction milestones closely. Trader Joe’s now has a concrete Logan Square address to anchor those next steps.