The Aurora City Council on Tuesday approved a change to an agreement for a new Italian restaurant planned for downtown that pushes back its opening date and extends the project timeline by around two and a half months.
The restaurant, set to be located in the 3,200-square-foot building at 7 S. Broadway, is planned to be an Italian osteria with pasta made on site and wood-fired pizza. It is being developed by St. Charles-based Frontier Development, LLC, in partnership with a restaurant group owned by Chris and Megan Curren, who own The Graceful Ordinary in St. Charles.
The change to the redevelopment agreement for the restaurant, which was approved without discussion as a part of the Tuesday meeting’s consent agenda, pushes the grand opening date from March 2025 to June 2025 at the latest. The consent agenda is typically used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item.
In May of last year, aldermen approved $827,094 in incentives for the restaurant, with half of the incentives in the form of a grant and the other half in the form of a forgivable loan.
Under that agreement, the restaurant partnership would pay for the rest of the renovation, which has a total estimated cost of around $1.65 million, according to past reporting. The partnership is also buying the building from the city for $100,000.
The newly-approved timeline has the building being purchased and construction starting by the end of this month, according to a staff report. Construction is planned to be finished by the end of May.
City staff said in the report that the project’s timeline is being pushed back because of the city’s review of the project’s plans. The FoxWalk Design Committee approved the project’s elevations on Dec. 18, and the Aurora City Council approved on Dec. 17 a license agreement that will allow the restaurant to place outdoor seating in the nearby city-owned Skinny Park.
In addition to the changes in the project timeline, the amendment to the redevelopment agreement also reassigns the agreement’s rights and responsibilities to a newly-formed legal entity known as 7 South, LLC, instead of the previous Frontier Development, LLC. City staff previously said this type of change was written into the original agreement and is typical for developers to do.
Another change to the agreement approved at Tuesday’s meeting is the assignment of collateral from the developer to a lender for construction financing, according to the staff report.
City staff previously said that when a lender gets involved, they typically want to know that they have the right to place a lien on the property if needed, but that the city does not really have any risk because the developer is personally guaranteeing the loan.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
