by Sandra Guy

Starbucks, a chocolatier and a bakery are among the retailers that will fill the newly renovated pedway to the Randolph Street Metra and South Shore trains.

The formerly dark, stinky and noisy pedway beneath the intersection of Randolph and Michigan has undergone a $22 million renovation that includes bright lighting, air conditioning and attendants and fresh flowers inside the restrooms.

Retailers will line the pedway in the Shops at Millennium Station -- so named because of the nearby Millennium Park. The Shops will hold a grand opening in mid-November, said Vaughn Suit, property manager for Beitler Millennium Station LLC, which Metra hired last year to lease the 16,000 square feet of retail space.

Four retailers will open by Oct. 1: Starbucks, CityScents florist, Millennium News and Views newsstand and Sweet Tooth Cafe.

Philip Pagano, Metra's executive director, told the Metra board in April that Beitler also had letters of intent from Subway sandwich shop and Cinnabon bakery.

Suit, the Beitler spokesman, declined to name other retailers, but said they include a sandwich shop and a specialty bakery.

Most of the retail shops will stay open until 9 p.m. The train station stays open until 1 a.m.

Leases for the retail space are proving more profitable than Metra had envisioned, largely because of the blossoming tourism and residential development in the Loop. Metra expects the leases to generate $209,000 to $250,000 this year and up to $320,000 in 2007.

"We will also have events in the station, like ice-cream socials, and we'll tie in special events with what is happening at Millennium Park," Suit said.