Fat Rosie’s moving into old Park Tavern in Rosemont

Fat Rosie's Taco & Tequila Bar plans to open this year in the Rosemont entertainment district space recently vacated by Park Tavern, officials said Monday.

The village board Monday morning inked a $2.9 million contract to sell the two-story, 9,000-square-foot space within Parkway Bank Park to CapitalSpring, a private equity firm that recently acquired the Mexican restaurant chain.

The sale comes a little more than a month after village trustees approved a $1 million buyout of the lease of Park Tavern, which was one of the original venues of the entertainment district that opened in 2012.

Fat Rosie’s, which also has locations in Schaumburg, Lincolnwood, Lincolnshire, Naperville and Frankfort, could serve as competition to another of the Rosemont entertainment district’s original venues, Adobe Gilas. The latter Mexican venue has 10 years left on its lease, but that agreement is with proprietors of Sugar Factory, which is in the same building, and not with the village.

“I see Adobe Gilas being a bar,” Mayor Brad Stephens said. “If they feel it’s competition, they can repurpose.”

For example, Stephens said, the former Hofbräuhaus Chicago German beer hall was converted into Crust, a pizzeria and craft beer bar, and Five Roses Pub became the Mediterranean-inspired Saltwater Coastal Grill.

In the case of Fat Rosie’s, founder Scott Harris had previously explored a Rosemont move.

“There’s a bit of an entertainment value to it,” said Stephens, noting the mariachi performers that go from table to table. “It’s a family-fun entertainment restaurant.”

And, he added, “the queso skillet will knock your socks off.”

The business will go before the village zoning board of appeals March 5 for initial review of a special use permit. Some interior renovations are planned, but the large bar left by Park Tavern will remain in place, Stephens said. The new restaurant also purchased the old restaurant’s kitchen equipment.

The brick-and-mortar acquisition by Fat Rosie’s ownership also includes Park Tavern’s old top floor patio that extends onto the roof of the neighboring Zanies Comedy Club.

Village officials in recent years have been selling the entertainment district buildings to their operators; leases only remain at Zanies, Bub City/Joe’s Live, and a ground lease at iFly Indoor Skydiving.