Lisle restaurant owner looks to revive corner of Ogden, Main

The gateway to downtown Lisle features a boarded-up strip mall on one corner and a semi-vacant building on the other.

Rob Salerno, who owns two Lisle restaurants, has plans to dress up the downtown entrance with a new breakfast bar and a deli market at the southwest corner of Ogden Avenue and Main Street.

“It is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable corners in Lisle,” Salerno said. “It’s what people see first coming into our town.”

Salerno’s restaurant group includes Evviva! Bar & Eatery near the Lisle Metra Station and Urban Wine + Kitchen on Main Street. For his latest concept, Salerno aims to completely remodel the interior and exterior of the building formerly occupied by Fox Restaurant at the threshold of downtown.

Salerno said he’s looking to invest “in excess of $1 million” into the project, not including the acquisition costs of the property. Salerno envisions the deli having a retail area and offering pastas, homemade sausages, sandwiches, or grab-and-go items along Main Street next door to a breakfast-lunch restaurant with outdoor seating.

“These new restaurants will continue to invigorate Lisle’s downtown atmosphere, but will also create a welcoming feel as residents and visitors frequent the downtown,” Lisle Economic Development Manager George Kafka said.

To that end, village trustees recently approved Salerno’s request to provide up to $165,000 in grant funding. The village will not be giving the grants upfront but will reimburse Salerno for certain improvements.

The board awarded $100,000 from two restaurant grant programs, $15,000 from the village’s retail business build-out program, plus $50,000 from a grant program meant to encourage exterior renovation of older shopping centers or mixed-use retail buildings.

“I do think this is a very smart and creative way to try and support financially your investment and for the village to play a role in that gateway location,” Trustee Mary Jo Mullen told Salerno last month when he showed the board the restaurant proposal. “... It’s extremely important that that is not only occupied and thriving, but it does fit where we’re going with downtown.”

The old Fox restaurant building needs significant upgrades to meet current health codes, as well as village building codes and regulations, officials say.

Tens of thousands of drivers on Ogden Avenue travel past the site each day.