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River North Bar Plans To Continue Lawsuit Against Condo Owners Saying Scaffolding Hurt Business

(CBS) -- The owner of a bar and restaurant in River North is going ahead with a lawsuit against his upstairs neighbors, even though scaffolding the neighbors put up several months ago is now down.

Blue Frog's Local 22 on Hubbard near Wabash was so heavily scaffolded, owner John Reed says, it made it look like his bar was closed.

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"They thought we weren't there. We weren't getting any of that new business. We weren't getting the tourist business. It hurt."

Hurt to the tune of at least $120,000 in lost business. And that's being conservative, Reed says. And that doesn't include what his employees lost in tips.

A week ago the scaffolding came down because the high-rise condo building above the bar had finished the work they were doing. Reed says his business picked up and he was able to open his sidewalk patio.

"The president of the association said, 'Oh, I'm happy to see the patio up.'

"But I mean, I'm sorry - if they'd cared about us one tiny little bit, they could've made different plans on how to do the work."

So Reed is pushing ahead with a lawsuit against the condo association asking for some compensation for lost business.

WBBM is trying to reach the Plaza 440 Private Residences Condo Association for comment.

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