Darlington To Get "Happy"

a banner signals the anticipated arrival of Happy Life Laundromat at the corner of Racine and Leland, in the Darlington Hotel building

Signage went up for a tenant in the commercial space of the Darlington building this week: Happy Life Laundry. There's a family-owned laundromat by the same name in Rockford, so our guess is that they're expanding into Chicago with an Uptown site.

We don't know many more details, but we have been told that it will be a modern and tech-forward operation. There will be a wash-and-fold service available for delivery. The opening date is a bit hard to predict right now ... for obvious reasons.

In other Darlington news, developer Elmdale Partners tells us that the final inspection on the first batch of apartments will be taking place very soon.  Elmdale is hopeful it will have more -- and possibly all 48 -- apartments ready for renters by June 1st.

Further beautification efforts on the outside of the building are taking place and will continue.

It's hard to say definitively, since we're living in CoronaTimes, but the hope is to have all the amenities in place by the end of spring.

One major improvement was already happening on Tuesday: the opening up of the long-boarded-up windows on the Leland side of the building. (photo below)