Egg Harbor Cafe commits to Barrington Village Center project

Although dangerous cold stopped work Wednesday, crews at the village-backed commercial real estate project in downtown Barrington have made significant progress in just under three months of work.

Since breaking ground in mid-October, skeletons of the three buildings in The Barrington Village Center have begun taking shape and lease contracts have been signed or are pending for more than 70 percent of the retail space.

Peggy Blanchard, the village's economic developer director, said Wednesday she has been getting inquiries since the major work began.

"I'll get calls from people driving past the site who say 'Oh my gosh, can you get me some information on the project?'" she said.

Peter Rusnak, a partner on the development team, said the main tenant of one building, located between the White House and the M.J. Miller and Co. store, will be Egg Harbor Cafe, which will be leaving its space on Cook Street, where it has been since 1992.

Rusnak said Egg Harbor can begin setting up its portion of the building, which will be around 5,800 square feet out of around 7,000 square feet, by the end of the month.

A representative from Egg Harbor could not be reached Wednesday afternoon.

As part of an agreement between the village and developers, Arthur Hill and Co. and Envision Realty Advisors, Barrington businesses are only allowed to move to the center if they expand or were going to leave town without the new development.

Rusnak said the development team did not contact Egg Harbor because officials made a conscious decision not to contact any existing Barrington businesses.

"Our goal has always been to bring in as many new businesses to Barrington as possible," Rusnak said. "There are businesses in town that want to expand; we aren't going to turn our back on them."

So far, Egg Harbor is the only Barrington business to sign a lease.

Rusnak gave details on several other businesses that either have either signed a lease or are negotiating with the developers.

Rusnak said they have struck a lease agreement with a Japanese restaurant called Shakou Sushi that will occupy the west end of building at the corner of Hough and Main streets. The restaurant will have around 4,500 square feet of space on the first floor and additional 3,500 feet of space on the second floor, around half of which will be for outdoor, rooftop-style dining.

The only other Shakou Sushi location opened in Libertyville in March 2013. In addition to the Barrington location, its operators are opening a location in St. Charles, according to their website. Rusnak said it will be the only tenant to have two levels.

Rusnak said they've also signed a deal with an AT&T store that will occupy around 1,400 square feet of the north end of the building that will be nearest to the corner of Hough and Station Streets.

The developers are in talks with two restaurants and an upscale salon, Rusnak said.

One restaurant would be a steakhouse new to Illinois. If a deal is struck, the restaurant will occupy around 3,000 square feet of space on the corner of Hough and Station Streets and around 1,000 square feet of patio space for outdoor dining.

Rusnak said a deal with another restaurant for 2,700 feet of space at the corner of Main and Hough streets, with around 700 feet of patio dining, should be done shortly.

The salon, part of a chain that began in California, would occupy 1,400 feet of space next to the steakhouse if a lease agreement is reached, Rusnak said.

Barrington Village Center will have "a warm, charming feeling that I think people will want to walk to and be a part of," Rusnak said.

Blanchard said the project has brought interest to all of the commercial space in Barrington, not just downtown.

"We have picked up interest from retailers since this project started," she said. "People are coming out, they've heard about the project, hearing Barrington is doing something big,"