‘The right time to exit’: Wheeling’s District Brew Yards is closing

Wheeling’s District Brew Yards restaurant and brewery soon will close for good after less than three years on Restaurant Row.

With an unusual pour-your-own-beverage system, the food hall-style operation will serve its last beers Sept. 28, founder Steve Soble said in an email.

It’s shutting down primarily because the pizza provider that has operated within District Brew Yards for about a year, Paulie Gee’s, is pulling out of Wheeling, Soble said. Additionally, Soble said he’s been thinking about retiring.

“We did not want to partner with someone else at this point,” Soble said. “This seems like the right time to exit.”

The original District Brew Yards, at 417 N. Ashland Ave. in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, will remain open “for the foreseeable future,” Soble said — but its days likely are numbered.

“We will stay open in Chicago until we are able to sell or lease the space,” Soble said.

Both the Chicago and Wheeling buildings are for sale.

The nearly 3-acre Wheeling property went on the market in August, while the Chicago facility was put on the block this week, according to public real estate listings.

The 11,906-square-foot facility in Wheeling has a nearly $3.6 million asking price. No price was available for the smaller Chicago site.

The original District Brew Yards opened in 2019. The Wheeling location followed in 2022, occupying a building that previously had been a Ram Restaurant & Brewery.

Running along Milwaukee Avenue between Hintz and Lake-Cook roads, Restaurant Row has been an economic force in Wheeling since the 1970s. But the restaurant industry is cyclical, and places change owners, names and concepts.

Some Restaurant Row mainstays, such as Buca di Beppo and Tuscany, have closed in recent years; the once-legendary Le Francais has stood empty since 2007. All three of those buildings have new occupants in the works, however, Community Development Director Ross Klicker said.