Egg Harbor Cafe is first tenant of Barrington Village Center

After years of trying to find the right development for a key downtown intersection, Barrington finally has its first business tenant on the publicly owned land at Hough and Main Streets.

Even without its sign installed, loyal Egg Harbor Cafe customers were able to find the restaurant's new location in the Barrington Village Center for its grand opening Wednesday. There were smiles on the faces of staff and customers alike as they took in the new, bigger location at 125 W. Main St.

"We had regular customers doing a jig as they walked in this morning," owner Mike Farrell said.

The restaurant's former location at 210 S Cook St., where it had been since 1992, closed after serving customers on Sunday, leaving staff only two days to set up the new spot for opening day.

"People dropping by were saying 'No way, there's no way you can open in time,'" Farrell said.

Farrell, who along with his wife, Aimee, owns the Chicago-area Egg Harbor Cafes, said the quick move was necessary because their lease was running out at the old location and he didn't want his staff to wait long before opening in the village center.

"We couldn't have them out of work," said Farrell, who opened his first Egg Harbor in 1985.

Egg Harbor is the first business to open in the Barrington Village Center. Village Manager Jeff Lawler said about 70 percent of the 25,000-square-foot retail space has been rented, and work to open those businesses over the summer is on schedule.

When the village center project was conceived years ago, village leaders intended it to bring new businesses to town.

But they made a controversial exception for existing businesses like Egg Harbor, deciding they could move into the village center if either expanding or the alternative would be leaving town.

Lane Moyer, who owns the Egg Harbor's former space as well as a building on Northwest Highway, has accused the village center's developers of poaching existing business like the restaurant, a claim developers denied.

Farrell said Wednesday he had been interested in expanding Egg Harbor for some time, and had approached the village several years ago about finding another location.

"It was getting to the point where people were stumbling over each other in the kitchen," he said. "It became a question of do we want to reinvest $150,000 to $200,000 improving the old location or spend it on a brand new one."

In addition to being larger, the new location features a counter where customers can order coffee while waiting for a table. There also will be expanded outdoor seating during summer months. Farrell said they are hoping to have outdoor seating available this weekend for Mother's Day.