The single-story building that once housed Aya Pastry, the acclaimed West Town bakery that closed in August 2025, is down to its final scraps. Demolition at 1332 West Grand Avenue is now 97 percent complete, with only rubble and one story's worth of the west and north walls still standing at the site.
According to Chicago YIMBY, which has been tracking the project since the demolition permit was issued, crews at the site currently have no heavy equipment on hand, and the outlet reports the remaining wall sections may be coming down by hand in the final stretch. The site was slated for demolition back in June 2026, and the current state of the lot suggests that work is nearly finished nearly three months later.
From a Celebrated Bakery to a Vacant Lot
Aya Pastry earned a serious culinary reputation before it ever became a construction site. Executive chef Aya Fukai was named Eater's 2016 National Pastry Chef of the Year, was nominated for a James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2017, and was named Chicago Tribune Pastry Chef of the Year in 2018, according to PartySlate. At its peak, the bakery's wholesale arm supplied bread and pastries to more than 50 clients across Chicago, including independent coffee shops and grocers like Dom's Kitchen & Market, per Fooditor.
The bakery's downfall traces back to its parent company. Etta Collective LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2024, with court filings revealing that Fukai herself was owed $500,000 following her departure from the business, as previously reported by Hoodline's coverage of the bankruptcy. Around the same time, Wintrust Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against the 1332 West Grand Avenue property in Cook County Circuit Court after Etta Collective defaulted on a $2.5 million loan issued in July 2022. Etta Bucktown, the group's last remaining Chicago restaurant, permanently closed on October 19, 2025, ending the hospitality group's physical presence in Illinois, per a report from The Coconut Mama.
What's Rising in Its Place
Property owner Thirteen 28-32 W Grand LLC has a pending new construction permit assigned to 1334 West Grand Avenue for a four-story residential building with nine units, according to the same Chicago YIMBY report. General contractor BM International Builders, Inc. is set to erect the building, and property records show the company's address matches that of the property owner. The design comes from Hanna Architects, and the building will include a nine-car attached garage, giving it a one-to-one parking-to-unit ratio that Chicago YIMBY's reporting suggests could point toward condominiums rather than rentals, though whether the new units will be offered for sale or rent remains unclear.
The residential units will occupy the upper three floors, with ground-floor retail space planned at street level. Each unit is expected to include balconies at every level, and the building will feature a stair enclosure, a deck over the fourth floor, and a rooftop deck atop the attached garage. Notably, the building has no basement level planned.
Nine Units, Not Ten
The nine-unit count is not incidental. Chicago's Affordable Requirements Ordinance mandates that residential developments with 10 or more units reserve 10 to 20 percent of dwellings as affordable housing or pay an in-lieu fee, according to Root Realty. By capping the project at nine units, the developer stays just below that threshold, avoiding the mandatory affordable set-asides or fee penalties that would kick in at 10 units or more, per the City of Chicago's own ordinance guidance.
The project also leans into West Town's transit-oriented character. The building will include storage for 30 bicycles, and residents will have access to CTA bus routes 65, 66, 9, and X9, all with stops within three-block walks of the site. The Grand Blue Line subway station sits just over half a mile east of the property, and CTA bus route 65 connects directly to it.
What's Still Unknown
The new construction permit for 1334 West Grand Avenue remains pending, so the exact timeline for breaking ground has not been finalized. Whether the finished units will be sold as condominiums or offered as rental apartments is also still an open question, one that Chicago YIMBY's reporting suggests may be answered by the building's parking ratio but has not been confirmed either way.
The building at 1332 West Grand Avenue was originally constructed in 1944 and previously sold in January 2006 for $600,000, according to property records from Compass Real Estate. Eight decades after it went up along the Grand Avenue corridor, the 9,375-square-foot commercial parcel is now nearly cleared for its next chapter.
