New operator reopening Mount Prospect banquet hall closed three years

Mount Prospect trustees have approved a liquor license to reopen a banquet hall at 1700 S. Elmhurst Road that closed in November 2014.

The owner of the proposed Victoria in the Park, Ted Mavrakis, also owns the Mission Hills banquet hall in Northbrook, the White Eagle banquet hall in Niles and World of Beer in downtown Evanston.

The planned 22,000-square-foot banquet hall will seat up to 400 guests.

"It's a beautiful place," Mavrakis said. "I don't have to sell it. It sells itself."

Mavrakis told the village board last week that for him the project represents a return to Mount Prospect. He previously was an investor in several Giordano's restaurant franchises for 33 years, the first being on Rand Road in Mount Prospect.

Mayor Arlene Juracek welcomed Mavrakis back to town.

"We don't have that many banquet facilities in town, especially not the size of Victoria in the Park. It has been missed in the many months that it has been closed," she said.

Mavrakis said he's ecstatic about the opportunity.

"I pledge to all of you that we will run it as a first-class banquet facility," he said.

The banquet hall has passed the village's preliminary inspections and is expected to open in a few weeks if it passes final inspections.

If Victoria in the Park indeed reopens, it will be the second Mount Prospect banquet hall which closed in 2014 to do so. In March 2014, Bristol Court Banquets closed unexpectedly. Bristol Court was purchased by its current owners in April 2014 and reopened shortly thereafter while Victoria in the Park was vacant for just over two years.

• Daily Herald staff writer Doug T. Graham contributed to this report.