The Aurora City Council is set to consider on Tuesday a $75,000 loan to help a new soul food restaurant open in the Fox Valley Mall.
The Soul Spot would be run by Delicia Bowling, the former owner of Bolingbrook’s now-closed Mandy’s Soul Food. In February, Aurora announced Bowling’s new restaurant would be coming to the Fox Valley Mall after she signed a contract for the space formerly occupied by Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, which closed in 2017.
“We really feel like this is a complete win for our center,” Patty Ryan, Fox Valley Mall’s senior director of Local Leasing and Business Development, said at an Aurora City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on April 1.
According to a city of Aurora Facebook post announcing The Soul Spot in February, the only thing changing from Bowling’s previous restaurant is the name — its cooks and menu will be the same.
That means food like crispy Southern fried chicken, smothered pork chops, baked mac and cheese, buttery cornbread, savory collard greens, sweet potato pie and more, the Facebook post said.
The city’s proposed loan to The Soul Spot has been on the agendas of the past few Committee of the Whole meetings, but it kept being pushed back.
At the April 1 meeting, Mayor’s Office of Economic Development Executive Director David Dibo said those delays were requested because city staff did not have all the details yet. Now, cost estimates have been finalized, and staff are ready to move forward with the deal.
If approved by the Aurora City Council on Tuesday, the city will be putting $75,000 toward the project, which will come from the city’s Transformation Fund, according to a staff report included with the April 1 meeting’s agenda.
The Transformation Fund was created using $9 million of the $16 million the city received from a redevelopment deal with CyrusOne last year to build a second data center location in the city.
The fund was designed for economic development, with the idea that the funds would be loaned out and repaid with interest, creating a self-perpetuating fund, city staff previously said.
The $75,000 loan would be paid back to the city over three years using sales taxes and food and beverage taxes, and the loan is personally guaranteed by The Soul Spot’s ownership, the staff report said.
The restaurant is estimated to make a minimum of $1 million in sales each year, which would produce $37,500 in taxes toward the loan annually, according to the report. The city’s estimates were made with the help of Waubonsee Community College’s Illinois Small Business Development Center, staff said in the report.
In addition to the potential loan from the city and a $380,000 investment through equipment and equity by the owner of the restaurant, the ownership of Fox Valley Mall is also putting $112,000 toward The Soul Spot, Ryan said at the April 1 meeting.
“We are really excited,” she said.
The Committee of the Whole, which sets Aurora City Council meeting agendas, placed the loan on the consent agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
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.
A similar deal recently approved by the Aurora City Council gave $450,000 in loans to help open a diner inspired by soul and New Orleans food. That restaurant, which is set to open in downtown Aurora’s redeveloped Terminal Building, will be owned by chef Jamie Gilmore of Chicago’s Lizzy J Cafe.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
