Once Upon a Bagel among new eateries planned on Higgins Road in Rosemont

Long a presence on the North Shore and on the heels of its newest location in Arlington Heights, Once Upon a Bagel is planning to open another shop in Rosemont, village officials announced this week.

The bagel shop will be the last major tenant of a village-owned strip building, in what is a mini restaurant row developing on Higgins Road.

The store is taking the prime corner spot of a former Starbucks in the commercial building at 9500-9520 W. Higgins, according to Mayor Brad Stephens. The 1,800-square-foot shop will offer takeouts of its popular New York-style bagels and bialys, baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads and other deli items.

It’s slightly larger than the business’ 1,400-square-foot downtown Arlington Heights strip mall location that opened in May.

Proprietors Ira Fenton and Adam Dlatt also operate bagel shops in Lake Forest and Winnetka, a deli and grill in Northbrook, a restaurant in Highland Park and a hot dog stand in Highwood.

Once Upon a Bagel joins other previously announced eateries in the building, which the village purchased for $2.5 million a year ago and has since been trying to re-tenant. About half the space in the single-story, 16,246-square-foot property is the former Ram Restaurant & Brewery, which closed at the height of the pandemic.

Originally set to open in the former Starbucks, Tempesta Market will instead use a larger 4,000-square-foot space in the subdivided former Ram restaurant. The Italian deli and specialty sandwich shop’s flagship location opened in 2017 on Grand Avenue in Chicago’s West Town, featuring prepared items, meats, cheeses and other Italian groceries.

Another 4,000-square-foot space will be home to Meraki Cafe, described on its website as a “fresh take on modern Greek American dining” and designed as an all-day destination for breakfast, lunch and dinner with an espresso bar and patio dining. It’s a higher end concept from the same owners of the Eggsperience Cafe franchise, which was initially announced for the Rosemont site earlier this year.

Next door is the existing Cilantro Taco Grill, but which is rebranding as Fuego, under a new 10-year lease inked with the village board Monday.

Also signing a lease for a 1,500-square-foot office in between Meraki and Tempesta is dentist Patricia Varco-White, who is relocating her Northwest Dental Associates practice from an office building at 10600 W. Higgins Road. The village bought that building a year ago for $3.5 million, with an eye toward securing ingress and egress for a 20-acre, vacant village-owned site — what is one of the last developable properties in town.

The village is pouring $1.5 million into building improvements at 9500-9520 W. Higgins, including a new roof and heating and cooling systems. Stephens is confident the new businesses will be moving in by the end of the year.