Three restaurants in the renovated historic Hobbs Building in downtown Aurora will be opening this year.
The first of those openings, Leilani Asian Fusion, 2 N. River St., will be Friday, Aug. 9, although there will be a sneak peak with small bites and drinks during this week’s First Fridays celebration downtown on Friday evening.
The restaurant features Filipino and Pan-Asian flavors and traditions, according to a press release from the restaurant. It also will include an underground lounge open for late night entertainment, cocktails and light bites.
“We are incredibly excited to introduce Leilani Asian Fusion to this vibrant community,” said Abbey Tiu-Kemph, general manager and strategic consultant. “Leilani is named after my daughter in honor of her late father Jason Morales – an exceptional restaurateur and entrepreneur, engineer and longtime supporter of Aurora’s revitalization. His giving spirit and zest for life lives on within the walls of this beautiful labor of love.”
The space features 1,170 square feet of kitchen space, a 1,100-square-foot patio and 3,115 square feet of dining and bar seating on the first floor.
Forbidden City, the restaurant’s 1,200-square-foot, 50-seat underground lounge, conjures images from Southeast Asian nightclubs, and offers rum-inspired craft cocktails, beer and wine.
The venue includes a dining room that seats 146 and seasonal outdoor seating for 50.
The restaurant is named after the daughter of Tiu-Kemph and her late partner, Jason Morales, who was a driving force behind MORA Asian Fusion, their first restaurant.
Leilani Asian Fusion is the first of three restaurants looking to open in the Hobbs Building.
The Aurora City Council recently created two new liquor licenses for two more restaurants due to open later this year right next door to Leilani Asian Fusion.
One license is for Giardino Pizzeria and Trattoria, 12 N. River St., and the other for Touche French Creole, 6 N. River St., right next door.
Both restaurants will have a sit-down bar and indoor seating, and outdoor seating along River Street. Both restaurants will be priced in the mid-range.
Giardino Pizzeria and Trattoria will have a family-style experience, with a full-service Italian menu that will include wood-fired pizza. The tables will be set up to accommodate big parties, such as an entire family.
Officials are looking to get Giardino open in September.
Touche French Creole will feature a French Creole menu, and will be open for dinner. The target for that opening is November.
The Hobbs Building was built in 1892 for the Hobbs Manufacturing Co., which made furniture and coffins in the building. But it is remembered more these days as the Crosby Building because Crosby’s Sporting Goods occupied the first floor from 1952 until sometime into the 1980s.
Developers Jay Punukollu and Harish Ananthapadmanabhan, owners of JH Real Estate Partners LLC, based in Aurora, redeveloped the Hobbs into 33 apartment units on the upper floors. The redevelopment not only saved the building from demolition, it was done in the shadow of fears of the building falling down. The upper floors were likely vacant for about 70 years, city officials said.
The overall redevelopment project was about $13 million. JHS used state and historic tax credits worth about $1.9 million from the federal government and about $2.7 million from the state government. The rest of the cost was covered by equity applied by the company, a traditional loan and some money from the city.
slord@tribpub.com