Fahlstrom's Fresh Fish Market to open in Rosemont entertainment district
A Chicago seafood restaurant plans to open a second location this year in Rosemont's entertainment district, village officials said Wednesday.
Fahlstrom's Fresh Fish Market, the creation of Chicago restaurateur and actor Glenn Fahlstrom, will be located in a new one-story, 6,000-square-foot building next to Muvico theater.
Fahlstrom will pay for construction of the building, and is expected to sign a ground lease agreement for the village-owned land soon, according to Mayor Brad Stephens.
The restaurant will take up about half of an existing parking lot between the movie theater and iFly indoor sky diving center. The village board in January altered its lease agreement with iFly to allow the lot to be built on, when before it was only to be used for parking.
Fahlstrom opened his Chicago restaurant in 2014 at 1258 W. Belmont Ave. in the Lakeview neighborhood. Described on its website as a "family friendly seafood diner," the eatery offers 16 types of fresh fish daily, and breakfast anytime, including 35 kinds of cereal to choose from on the diner's cereal wall.
Stephens said customers will also be able to purchase fresh seafood to prepare at home.
Fahlstrom's Fresh Fish Market is a spinoff of Glenn's Diner, 1820 W. Montrose Ave. in Chicago, which Fahlstrom co-owned until he walked away in 2012 following a legal dispute with his business partner.
Stephens and Marc Offit, the village's broker for the 200,000-square-foot MB Financial Park entertainment district, went to Fahlstrom's Belmont Avenue restaurant to sample the food before tentatively striking a deal.
"Marc said, 'Let's try this place.' It's good and something that doesn't exist over there," Stephens said. "We need to keep adding things to give options for people."
The restaurant should be ready to open by the end of the year, the mayor said, leaving a parking lot between Hofbrauhaus Chicago and the Big Ten Conference headquarters as the only developable space left in the entertainment district, which opened in 2012. Stephens said it's unlikely anything would be built on the grass field in the middle of the complex, home to popular summer concerts and a winter skating rink.
Also Wednesday, the village board approved the purchase of parcels of land from Muvico that will allow construction of a valet drive near the east side of the theater. It'll be the fourth valet drop-off spot in the entertainment district.