ENGLEWOOD — City Council approved $5 million in tax-increment financing to build a restaurant hub in Englewood on Wednesday, months after two South Side alderpeople pushed back on the decision.
E.G. Woode — a group of architects, designers and entrepreneurs — were approved for up to $5 million in tax-increment financing for the E.G. Woode Food Hub, 1022 W. 63rd St. The project will transform the dilapidated, century-old building into a culinary destination.
Pass the Peas, a casual soul food diner, and Ellie’s Urban Grill, a sports and entertainment restaurant, will set up shop in the hub. The space will also have a pop-up kitchen for aspiring restaurateurs and three small offices, said Deon Lucas, architect and leader at the collective.
E.G. Woode leaders first asked alderpeople to approve the $5 million in funding in October.
The total costs to complete the project are about $7.1 million, and the group has about $2 million in lender financing and $90,000 in equity, according to an October presentation from the city’s Department of Planning and Development.
But Alds. David Moore (17th) and Raymond Lopez (15th) voted to “defer and publish” the ordinance, a procedural move meant to delay a final vote.
At the time, Moore said he delayed the vote because he was “pushing” for a new field house at Ogden Park, 6500 S. Racine Ave. If E.G. Woode got the $5 million in city funding, “that TIF goes dry, and we cannot help our children,” Moore said in October.
Five months after the decision stalled, Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, informed the council last week she intended to call for a vote on the ordinance.
Moore “didn’t know it was coming up,” he told Block Club. Because the ordinance already had been approved in committee, Dowell’s move allowed the legislation to be voted on in council without another committee hearing.
“I’m not against the E.G. Woode project, it’s a good project, but we have to know how we’re giving up our TIF dollars and how we’re prioritizing it,” Moore said.
Moore has since had “conversations with the administration” confirming his concerns about the Ogden Park Field House will be addressed, he said.
The TIF money will go toward a “gut rehab” of the 10,500-square-foot building, Lucas previously said.
That work will include ridding the 113-year-old space of contaminants like asbestos, replacing the roof and mechanical systems, foundation repairs and an interior build-out, Tim Jeffries, the planning department’s managing deputy commissioner, said in October.
The hub will be redesigned with a modern look but keep “the turrets that have helped define this corner of 63rd Street for the past 100 years,” Jeffries said.
The food hub will become one of the only sit-down restaurant options available in Greater Englewood.
Sikia at Kennedy-King College has been closed since 2020 but will reopen by fall, leaders at Kennedy-King said.
The Re-Up 1158 Project, piloted by the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, will revive the old Leon’s and bring at least one new restaurant to the building.
Other locally owned dining destinations in Greater Englewood include Kusanya Cafe and Haute Brats.
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