Planned Clarendon Hills Eatery Failed With Its 2nd Chance: Village

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – The owner of a proposed Clarendon Hills restaurant got a second chance with the village, but he failed, an official said this week.

Last month, the village's staff advised the Village Board to terminate its subsidy agreement with Prospect Tavern because the owner hadn't met deadlines.

But the Village Board decided to hold off and give the owner another chance.

In a memo this week, Paul Dalen, the village's acting manager, said Prospect Tavern remained in default of the agreement. It called for a $265,000 subsidy for a renovation at 27 S. Prospect Ave.

"(T)he Recipient has continued to fail to perform its obligations under the Agreement," Dalen said.

At last month's board meeting, owner Chase Lofti said he was "100 percent committed" to the renovation. He said he had been going back and forth with the architect on different designs.

"We have made extensive progress," Lofti said. "There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work."

The subsidy would come from the village's downtown tax increment financing district, or TIF.

The district is designed to spur development. The idea is that the restaurant would bring the village far more tax income than the subsidy.

Prospect Tavern's building was most recently occupied by La Pearl and I Want Candy, but it has been mostly vacant since Sue's Cakery closed in 2019.

In September, a split Village Board rejected the $265,000 subsidy. At the time, the majority's objection was a condition giving the restaurant three parking spaces for outdoor dining.

That condition was dropped in the latest agreement, which the board approved in December. According to a village memo at the time, outdoor dining would be addressed annually, as with other restaurants.