Time to bid final farewell to Hoffman Estates landmark

The yellow excavator, with its long-nosed engine and toothy metal arm, lies poised against the facade of a Hoffman Estates landmark as if ready to devour it.

The restaurant's curtainless windows and doors seem to stare into the empty parking lot, as its sad evergreen shrubs hug the building's brick slabs. A dull chain link fence surrounds the building and stands guard underneath the outdated marquee, still listing liver and onions and New York steak specials.

The heavy machinery is aimed at the beloved former Sante, a restaurant at the corner of Route 72 and Spring Mill Drive. Sante awaits certain death in the weeks to come, but on its site will arise the new state-of-the-art Hoffman Estates police station by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Sante, first known as Spring Mill Restaurant, was a second home to residents of Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg. It was a favorite meeting place at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Mayor Bill McLeod said the building will be disassembled according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design to follow "green" standards, with its materials recycled.

"That's what is delaying it to this point, but soon it will be leveled," McLeod said. "Architects currently are designing the new police department."

The mayor says the village recently finalized plans to purchase the two-acre restaurant site, and previously purchased three-and-a-half adjacent acres from the Presbyterian Church of the Cross. The land, which begins at Higgins Road, goes south on Spring Mill Drive nearly to existing Hoffman Estates residences.

McLeod remembers the restaurant with gusto.

"It was an institution, a great place to get a well-rounded meal for the family and leave with a relatively inexpensive tab," the mayor said. "After church, people would flock there, and it also was a public meeting place. Many political gatherings convened there for organizational meetings."

Most recently named the Chef's Corner, old-timers still refer to the eatery by its former name of Sante.

Deputy Village Manager Dan O'Malley added a little-known piece of trivia and history. In 1975 the land was in Schaumburg and the owner of what was to be called Maurici's Restaurant bumped into a problem with its water connection.

"To connect to the Schaumburg water supply, the owner had to bore under Route 72 to make a connection, a very pricey venture," O'Malley said. "Schaumburg allowed a disconnection of the property and Hoffman Estates annexed. The Maurici name was dropped, and it became Spring Mill Restaurant."

O'Malley, who said the village did a study of the existing police department, only to learn continuing maintenance would require substantial money, said they don't know the exact square footage of the new police station but estimate it will be about 70,000 square feet. "It's just a number at this point," O'Malley said.

The deputy manager has his own memories of Sante. O'Malley, 43 -- a St. Hubert Catholic School graduate who "wouldn't give up those school memories for anything," and graduate of Hoffman Estates High School -- recalls his late father's invitation following Sunday Mass. "Would you like to eat at Sante?" his dad, John, would ask his wife, Shirley, and children, Karen, John, Erin and Dan.

Dan, whose favorite choice was buttermilk pancakes, sometimes cringed when he thought of the 45-minute wait to get a table. "It always was so busy, and as hungry as we were we knew the wait would be long."

With fondness, Marilyn Wales remembers that Sante was the place to go with family and friends Mary Dimaria and Ceil Bobka. "We would laugh and have fun eating breakfast even at night," Wales said. "When I was alone, I'd sit at the counter. It's sad, because it holds a lot of memories and I miss it."

Viv Trainor gathered for chats and laughs with her sister, Kay Laskero, and friends, Julie Shoro, Marge Muldowney, Betty Stehle, Helen Taylor, Esther McCain and the late Mary Bear and Eleanor Daly.

Trainor, who remembers the original waitresses, said it was the place to meet. She said, "It was a gathering spot where you were comfortable and allowed to stay for hours." Her niece, Patti Laskero Rose, and Shoro's daughter, Julianne, worked there as hostesses.

Bill Walsh, a member of the Hoffman Estates Veterans Commission, recalled the great breakfasts he shared there with his wife, Colleen, and son, Brennan.

"The food was good, the prices right and the location convenient," he said.

McLeod finds it fitting the former Sante land will house the new police department.

"Sante was an informal meeting place and the new station will have space for public use and possibly house the Community Resource Center," McLeod said. "It's a fitting use for that property, and it's appropriate that it will be used in a public way."