EDC votes 5-3 to move the restaurant’s $400,000 TIF request to the council
By Bob Seidenberg
Restaurant owners Gabrielle Walker-Aguilar and partner Byron Glapion made a successful pitch Wednesday to the city’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) for $400,000 in Tax Increment Finance money to go toward the buildout of a restaurant, Choice Authentic, in the Dempster-Dodge area — in space once eyed by a Popeyes franchisee.
Heartwood Center, a health and wellness collective in the area, teamed up with the couple who operate the 4 Suns Plant Based Kitchen in Main Street area, as an alternative to a Popeyes looking to rent space next to Heartwood at 1826-30 Dempster St.
The center, joined by many businesses and residents in the West Village neighborhood, mobilizing opposition to Popeyes application, maintaining the area was already glutted with fast food restaurants, and that residents there were deserving of healthy food choices.
Heartwood eventually reached an agreement with the property owner Wolfberg Development LL to buy the property.
After a buildout, Heartwood would then lease the property to Choice Authentic at $9,000 a month to cover mortgage, taxes and insurance costs.
Assistance key to the buildout
At Wednesday’s EDC meeting, Walker-Aguilar said the $400,000 will be used to cover an $800,000 buildout.
“And out of a project that is costing $9.2 million, we fall short by a mere $400,000,” she told committee members, “and that directly correlates to what we need to build it out hard cost, and this is what we’re asking you for.”
”It is not an inexpensive thing to open a restaurant,” she said.
In discussion, some EDC members expressed concern about sufficient funds in the area’s West Evanston TIF to cover the assistance.
Some funds in that TIF had been transferred to an adjoining and newer TIF, the Five-Fifths TIF farther west, to support Soul & Smoke into a full service restaurant in 2024.
Estimates show the ending TIF balance in the West Evanston TIF Fund standing at nearly $2.7 million now, but dipping into negative numbers as soon as 2027, helping pay off projects in an adjoining TIF district in some cases.
Council member Bobby Burns, chair of the Five Fifths TIF, said he believed some funds could be shifted.
Council member Parielle Davis, said she would favor funding from shifts between TIFs, but not drawn from the city’s General Fund, which supports basic city services.
Plus, the city needs to get a better grasp on money in its TIFs, she said, and what could be shifted in such cases.
Nancy Floy, the founder and owner of Heartwood leasing the property, noted that the goal is for the couple to own the property, “and own this corner and its like an incredible thing we can support here.”
Addressing the restaurant owners, Council member Matt Rodgers, 8th, who has managed a number of restaurants and been involved in the opening of two, said “I know there’s a lot of idealism, a lot of enthusiasm behind it (the initiative) but there also has to be a backup plan, because sometimes reality hits you in the face, and so I want to make sure that we’re also doing that, so that we’re setting you guys up for a successful business.”
Council member Clare Kelly, 1st, said she could see the restaurant, located just a few blocks south of the high school, becoming a “Third Space” for students with planned activities such as Open Mic hours.
“What’s there not to love about this?” she said.
Strong resident support
Burns, chairing the meeting, suggested the motion may open the possibility of making use of TIF funds in a different way, allowing greater flexibility.
The meeting drew a strong turnout of residents from the Dempster-Dodge area.
”This is Economics 101,” said one speaker, urging approval.
Committee members voted 5-3, in support of moving the issue to the council, including an amendment by Davis, which conditioned approval on whether there were sufficient TIF funds to transfer.
The issue will next move to full city council for final consideration at its Jan. 12th meeting..
The request for assistance falls within previous public fund requests, wrote Melissa Klotz, Heartwood’s Development Advisor, and the city’s former Zoning Administrator, in an Oct. 15 letter to Nancy Floy, Heartwood’s founder and director, outlining the funding sources for the buildout.
“The property is located within the West Evanston TIF District. The West Evanston TIF District expires in 2028 and currently carries a positive balance estimated at over $2 million dollars. The last recorded financial filing for the TIF notes a beginning balance of approximately $2.2 million, a yearly disbursement of $2 million and ending 2024 balance of over $2.4 million. In total, the TIF has disbursed over $13 million dollars to the area.”
Further, she noted, “this TIF District historically supports local/small business operations to encourage a vibrant business district. Recent TIF payout approvals include over $217,000 for local startup business C&W Market, and $82,500 for HVAC equipment at the new local restaurant Freeflow Kitchen.”
Klotz named other funding sources the project may be eligible for, including storefront modernization and an entrepreneur support grant.