Via a lovely article from Rick Kogan in the Chicago Tribune (paywalled), we learn that longtime Green Mill owner Dave Jemilo has sold the Green Mill to new owners, Jason Cole and Jill Skintges.
June 19th is the date the new owners take over, coinciding with the 40 year anniversary of Jemilo's ownership of the celebrated jazz club. Jemilo is the 5th owner in the club's history.
From the article:
“This place has been my life for more than 40 years,” Jemilo said one recent afternoon, sitting in a Green Mill booth. “It was time. Nothing dramatic. I just don’t think I have the energy, that high level that it takes to be here every day until sometimes four in the morning. And there is other stuff in life I’d like to do.”
The new owners are Jason Cole and Jill Skintges, and any regular Green Mill patron will breathe a sigh of relief, erasing the anxiety and worry that arose when Jemilo, having in 2021 purchased the adjacent retail spots in the Green Mill building for $5 million, announced last summer that the Green Mill was for sale.
Courtesy Chicago Tribune and Rick Kogan
Both Cole and Skintges are long time employees of the Green Mill.
“We have great confidence in the future,” says Cole, a native South Sider who grew up in Berwyn and now lives on the Northwest Side. “We have both been able to watch closely how Dave works and that has been an inspiring foundation.”
Says Skintges, who is originally from the West Side and now lives in Lincolnwood, “I like to think of us as stewards, caretakers.”
Courtesy Chicago Tribune and Rick Kogan
Of note, Cole and Skintges are restoring the 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. closing times that existed before COVID-19.
The article does not say if the building housing the Green Mill has also changed hands in the purchase. As of publishing, the building's "for sale" listing remains active.
We are thrilled to see the Green Mill is in good hands for the many chapters to come!
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