Is Cake Boss still coming to Rosemont?
An Italian restaurant and bake shop run by the reality TV star known as the "Cake Boss" isn't a done deal yet, Rosemont officials said.
Village officials and developer Braden Real Estate announced in August plans for an 8,500-square-foot Buddy V's Ristorante as the first tenant of a proposed 16-acre mixed-use development, to be called The Pearl, south of Balmoral Avenue and west of the Tri-State Tollway.
But Mayor Brad Stephens said the deal may not be official, as negotiations continue between Braden and representatives of the restaurant and Buddy Valastro.
Neither side responded to requests for comment.
Construction was expected to begin next spring and finish by the fall, but that schedule has been pushed back. Stephens now is asking Braden to bring lease deals for all three restaurant pads proposed in the development for village approval at the same time.
Plans call for the entire development - which includes a 150-room boutique hotel and two office buildings - to open in the spring or summer of 2017.
Last week, the village board approved an agreement with Koch Foods, a chicken processor that plans to move its headquarters from Park Ridge to a 45,000-square-foot, 3-story office building in The Pearl.
As with all proposed buildings in the development, Rosemont will give village-owned vacant land to Koch, with plans to recover costs from increased tax revenues once the land is developed.
In August, the board approved a deal with Deerfield-based Janko Group, which plans to develop a hotel that would become the closest hotel to O'Hare International Airport after the Hilton Chicago O'Hare.
About five acres of village land will remain undeveloped for now but could be used for a future parking garage, retail space, or even a 2,200-seat music and stage show venue.
Stephens has said that venue would only be built if the Rosemont Theatre is demolished to make way for an expansion of the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall.
Village officials have been eyeing the space for redevelopment for at least six years, when they began buying and demolishing former light industrial buildings there. Work already has begun to relocate Pearl Street west, closer to the Metra tracks, to create a square space on which to build.