Cooper's Hawk in Wheeling awarded $100,000 village grant for renovations
An ever-popular chain restaurant on Wheeling's Restaurant Row will receive a $100,000 municipal grant to help fund a building renovation.
The village board on Monday approved a grant request from Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant, 583 N. Milwaukee Ave.
A roughly $4.9 million renovation is planned. The restaurant is being expanded and remodeled to improve the customer experience and meet increased demand, documents indicate.
An expanded outdoor seating area, facade changes, landscaping and interior building changes are among the intended projects.
The village board approved the changes in June 2022.
The grant will come from the village's Restaurant and Retail Build-Out Assistance Program. Business owners or property owners are reimbursed for up to half a project's cost.
Qualifying projects must be permanent improvements.
Wheeling's annual budget includes $400,000 for grants for businesses in each of two special taxing districts in town, Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said. The grant awarded to Cooper's Hawk is the first of the 2023 fiscal year, which began Jan. 1.
Located in front of the Westin Chicago North Shore hotel, Cooper's Hawk opened in 2008. Others in the chain operate in Arlington Heights, South Barrington, St. Charles and elsewhere in the Chicago area, as well as across the nation.