The building, which also houses Meet & Whiskey Speakeasy, caught fire Aug. 30 and sustained a heavy amount of damage.
The building, which also houses Meet & Whiskey Speakeasy, caught fire Aug. 30 and sustained a heavy amount of damage.
The building containing the Porkchop restaurant and Meet & Whiskey Speakeasy, 6341 N Broadway, caught fire midday Aug. 30.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, according to Director of Campus Security Thomas Murray. Murray told The Phoenix in an email no one was injured, and there was no damage to the adjacent Loyola Flex Lab.
Adjunct instructor at Loyola’s School of Continuing Professional Studies John Chrusciel said he was observing the mess of fire hoses snaking across Broadway Avenue.
“You can always tell a fire by the number of lines stretched, the more lines the worse the fire,” Chruscie said. “That’s a bad fire.”
About 144 firefighters responded to the scene, according to CBS News Chicago.
Ken Wanlass, who lives one block away from Porkchop, said he and his neighbor walked to the scene of the fire after smelling smoke in their apartments.
“I was just getting up from a nap and I could smell it,” Wanlass said. “Either that’s a fire or someone’s barbequing.”
The property is owned by Loyola University’s management company Lakeside Management.
Lakeside Management didn’t respond to The Phoenix’s request for comment at the time of publication.
2025 Loyola alumna Etinosa Imalele was walking with her friends and said fire trucks were being routed down Granville Avenue and Winthrop Avenue as she made her way toward the fire.
“Seeing the smoke from my window was insane,” Imalele said. “It’s a really big fire.”
The Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department and Chicago Transit Authority did not respond to The Phoenix’s requests for comment.
Director of Executive Communications Christian Anderson said the property is secured and an investigation is ongoing.
“The cause of the fire is under investigation and has not been officially determined,” Anderson wrote in an email to The Phoenix. “The site is boarded up and secure, and no one is allowed in the building for safety reasons.”
This story is ongoing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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