While the ownership of the Field House — a home away from home for Cleveland Browns fans for more than three decades — announced the sports bar would be closing on Wednesday, February 28, the Lincoln Park dive won’t be shutting down.
The co-owner of HVAC Pub in Wrigleyville, Nick Ivey, has bought the bar at 2455 N. Clark Street from Field House’s longtime owner Patrick Maykut. Ivey — who took over as co-owner and operator of HVAC in April 2022, partnering with 8 Hospitality Group (Hubbard Inn, Joy District) — says he won’t mess with the sports bar’s “essence” when he remodels the bar; it will stay closed for a bit while crews work. Ivey says he was looking to buy a new bar to give his employees at HVAC new opportunities.
One of his bartenders at HVAC, Savanna Haugse, will be a partner in Field House, as will 8 Hospitality founder Carmen Rossi. Ivey calls Rossi a mentor — they met while Ivey was a bartender at Hubbard Inn. Ivey says he was looking for more of a management and ownership track.
Ivey plans on keeping the bar closed until St. Patrick’s Day when they’ll open just for the holiday. Workers will then swap out the front door for a garage door and spruce up the space. They’ll also serve new cocktails. Ivey isn’t sure how long he’ll close the bar, but he’s not going to rush anything.
“It’s a dive bar — we’re not going to turn it into a nightclub or anything like that,” Ivey says.
The Field House had its quirks, as it would serve shelled peanuts, encouraging customers to drop shells on the floor. This was before society had a clearer understanding of peanut allergies. The bar adopted the slogan “cold beers and crunchy floors.” As Lincoln Park and neighboring Lakeview draw many recent college grads from Michigan and Ohio dying to meet people from the same state after moving to the big city, the Field House seemed inoculated from that scene while carving out a niche as a divey sports bar.
The bar’s workers reportedly tried to buy the bar from Maykut. Maykut rebuffed their efforts, they say. These workers were blindsided by the news that the bar was sold. Staff was reportedly told of the sale over the weekend. An Instagram post called the news “a mix of sadness and surprise.”
Meanwhile, Ivey calls the Field House a community meeting place and he wants to keep the momentum going. Taking over a dive is a complicated matter, and it’s easy to alienate regular customers. SmallBar in Logan Square was recently sold to Footman Hospitality, and Skylark in Pilsen was purchased by a group of the bar’s workers. So far, Ivey has been pleased by the response.
“HVAC Pub is a late-night music venue,” Ivey says. “What we’re looking to do is totally the opposite.”
Look for more news about Ivey’s plans for the Field House in the coming weeks.
Ashok Selvam
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