Gene & Georgetti closing Rosemont restaurant

The oldest family-owned steakhouse in the Chicago area is saying goodbye to its Rosemont location.

Gene & Georgetti is shutting down the restaurant at 9421 W. Higgins Road after being notified Tuesday it has to vacate the building because of $120,000 in unpaid property taxes.

The restaurant, which opened just five years ago, leases the building from the village of Rosemont but is responsible for the property taxes under a 10-year deal.

The Rosemont location has struggled amid the pandemic, though its event space has taken the biggest hit. The 5,000-square-foot grand ballroom has remained vacant since the state began regulating gatherings, according to one of the restaurant's third-generation family owners, Michelle Durpetti.

“We have a large event facility that accounts for about 50 percent of our revenue on a normal basis,” Durpetti said. “With the state mandates in place. ... we have not been able to have any business in the space.”

The longtime Chicago restaurateurs found themselves struggling among many other Rosemont businesses that have been affected by COVID-19.

“Operating at 40 percent capacity when you have 100 percent expenses is challenging,” Durpetti said. “That is an area that depended on the business traveler and convention business and entertainment and all of those things that are no longer happening.”

The last day for customers to enjoy steaks and pasta at the Rosemont restaurant will be Oct. 31, though the restaurant's 79-year-old River North location, at 500 N. Franklin St., will remain open.

Durpetti said there are no definitive plans to relocate to a smaller space in Rosemont.

“At the moment what we are really focused on is just surviving this pandemic,” Durpetti said. “It's very important to me that we protect this legacy.”