Six decades after original ‘Dog House,’ to-go Portillo’s opens in Rosemont
After years of stalled redevelopment on a blighted corner at Rosemont’s gateway, the monthslong construction of a new Portillo’s there seemingly went as quick as it is to get through the drive-through lanes.
Officials Tuesday morning grand opened Portillo’s Pick Up on the northwest corner of Mannheim and Higgins roads. It is the popular Chicago-style food chain’s second location without a dining room. The other opened last year in Joliet.
Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens and Michael Portillo, the company’ vice president of restaurant support, cut the ribbon before cars started queuing for the lunch rush. There are two drive-through lanes for ordering and a bypass lane that encircles the building, which has a small lobby to pick up orders placed online or through food delivery apps.
But unlike the larger brick-and-mortar sites in the publicly-traded restaurant chain’s portfolio, the Rosemont eatery doesn’t have tables or seating for indoor dining.
In some ways, it hearkens to Dick Portillo’s original 6-by-12-foot trailer in Villa Park.
The Rosemont stand is slightly bigger, but six decades and 82 restaurants later, Portillo’s is selling way more hot dogs today than “The Dog House” on North Avenue.
The Joliet Portillo’s generated $6 million in revenue in its first year, which has Rosemont officials seeing green - as neon as relish - for what the new location could mean in sales taxes for village coffers.
“That’s pretty good for a (3,500)-square-foot building,” said Mayor Brad Stephens, who noted the sit-down Giordano’s further east along Higgins Road does comparable sales.
To spur redevelopment at the prime entryway corner, village officials got the former property owner last year to agree to a $1.675 million purchase price, after they initially considered a condemnation lawsuit. A demolition company then tore down the east portion of a three-story, 75,000-square-foot building that once housed Shoeless Joe’s sports bar, Pine Grove diner and Enigma The Lounge basement nightclub.
Through a series of redevelopment agreements and contracts approved earlier this year, the village paid for $700,000 in site improvements, while Northfield-based Braden Real Estate put in $900,000. That included work on a retaining wall next to neighboring Willow Creek, underground site prep, and the 39-space parking lot with drive-through lanes. Portillo’s, which has a long-term ground lease with Braden, paid for the building construction.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Best Western motel - formerly connected to the old Shoeless Joe’s building via a hallway - is in foreclosure. The owner hasn’t yet responded to the village’s offer to buy the property, Stephens said.