‘Unlike anything else’: How public-private partnership hopes to rejuvenate downtown Des Plaines

It may be a gutted old bank building now, but Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski has a big vision for the three-story, marble-sided structure at the corner of Lee and Ellinwood streets.

He envisions a bustling restaurant packed with couples on dates and co-workers enjoying business lunches. He envisions glasses clinking and people dancing to a DJ’s music.

He envisions a place filled with life — filled with activity.

“And I think that life and activity is going to reinvigorate the whole area,” Goczkowski said.

Already dubbed The Dime, the restaurant will be the product of a partnership between the city — which bought the building at 678 Lee St. in 2024 for $1.9 million — and restaurateur David Villegas’ 10 Scents company.

Villegas, a Des Plaines native and current resident, has said he intends for The Dime to be a “destination dining experience.”

“We’re going to convert this iconic building into one of the coolest buildings you’ve seen in a while,” Villegas said in a city-produced promotional video.

Putting it together

Villegas already has a gastronomical hit in Des Plaines with a similar partnership. In 2023, he converted a Des Plaines Park District building — a former church — on Howard Avenue into the popular Foxtail on the Lake restaurant.

Like the 10 Scents limited liability company Villegas formed for the project, The Dime’s name pays homage to the financial origins of the building, which opened in 1927 as the Des Plaines State Bank.

Under its deal with 10 Scents, Des Plaines is spending up to $12 million to bring the roughly 18,000-square-foot building up to code and make other improvements. Villegas’ team will add kitchen equipment, furniture, fixtures, signs and other restaurant-specific amenities, at a projected $4.5 million cost.

While acknowledging success can’t be guaranteed, Goczkowski is confident the city’s investment is sound.

“It’s very clear that … they know what they are doing,” the mayor said of Villegas’ organization. “They create a product that people want to spend money at and spend their time at. They know how to execute.”

‘A lot of potential’

Customer seating will be on the ground floor, on a large mezzanine and even in the former bank vault. That last section will be reserved for private parties.

Goczkowski said the vault will create a dining experience “that’s unlike anything else in the Northwest suburbs.”

A lounge and another private dining area are planned for the second floor. The third floor will be reserved for private events, Villegas said.

The building is all but empty now, though.

The main floor is rough concrete and covered in construction dust; some of the large windows on the north side of the building are broken and covered with plywood; metal beams and columns are exposed throughout the structure.

Aside from the vault, nothing inside indicates the structure used to be a bank.

But the building has good bones, as they say in the real estate game, and with a little imagination it’s easy to picture the kitchen area planned for the south side of the ground floor, or the large bar planned for the north side that will give customers views of the city through existing windows.

“There’s a lot of potential here,” Goczkowski said.

Similar deals

A 2027 opening is planned to coincide with the building’s centennial.

The city will continue owning the building after The Dime opens; 10 Scents will pay rent once an occupancy permit is issued. That relationship may change, however, because Villegas’ company has the option to buy the property after the 10th, 15th and 20th years of the lease.

The partnership with Villegas isn’t the only real-estate deal city officials have entered to jump-start downtown redevelopment.

A little more than a year ago, the city council approved a multimillion-dollar economic incentive and development agreement with entrepreneurs who are planning a new restaurant at 1575 Ellinwood St., where Oliveti’s Italian Ristorante once stood.

In October, the council agreed to purchase the former Leona’s restaurant building at 1504 Miner St. for $1.1 million.

But The Dime will stand out, Goczkowski said. And while its patrons are waiting for tables or walking to or from their cars, they may see the nearby Des Plaines Theatre or another restaurant or bar and decide to come back.

“And suddenly,” Goczkowski said, “we have repeat customers.”

The Dime... by the numbers

Des Plaines and 10 Scents are converting a former bank building at 678 Lee St. into a restaurant to be called The Dime. Here’s a look at the project.

· 3: In stories, the building’s height

· 16: The maximum number of people who’ll be able to eat in a private dining room that once was a bank vault.

· 1927: The year the building opened, as Des Plaines State Bank

· 18,000: In square feet, the building’s size

· 1.9 million: In dollars, the price Des Plaines paid for the building in 2024

· 4.5 million: In dollars, the anticipated cost of kitchen equipment, furniture, fixtures and other restaurant-specific amenities

· 12 million: In dollars, what the city will spend on its portion of the renovation

Sources: Daily Herald interviews