Rosemont entertainment district resuming concerts, debuting venues inside old Hofbräuhaus
Hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosemont's once-bustling entertainment district is slowly on an upswing, with plans moving forward to resume summer concerts and fireworks and open three new venues inside the old Hofbräuhaus Chicago.
Village officials are planning to return to their weekly Rockin in the Park free summer concert series at Parkway Bank Park, the 200,000-square-foot complex east of the Tri-State Tollway and north of Balmoral Avenue.
As of now, the weekly lineup of classic cover bands and fireworks is on the calendar from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Whether there will be capacity limits, required masks or other restrictions is still unclear.
“Obviously we will do our best to comply with the COVID restrictions as they exist at that time,” Mayor Brad Stephens said Friday.
Meanwhile on Monday, attorneys for the village plan to close on the $2.165 million sale of 13,400 square feet of the 20,000-square-foot former Hofbräuhaus Chicago building and the land that sits under it to father-and-son businessmen Joe and Mike Matuschka.
The Matuschkas previously held a lease for the whole building, where they operated the German beer hall since 2013 but closed it last January amid rising costs and shrinking profits.
Instead, they plan to convert most of the building into a new pizzeria and craft beer bar called Crust. It will feature a menu of a dozen Neapolitan American-inspired individual pizzas and a rotating beer list of craft brews made in-house.
Stephens confirmed plans of another user to operate two different concepts on the north side of the building: a bar and an entertainment venue.
The village plans to sell the remaining portion of the building and land to a partnership led by Braden Real Estate, which has been involved in a number of projects in the park and around town. A sale and redevelopment agreement is set to be considered by the village board May 10.
Earlier this week, the board approved a $220,000 project to divide the building and provide electrical, gas and water utilities for the new users. There are also plans to upgrade the facade of the structure by changing color schemes and adding brick.
The new venues are scheduled to open this summer.
Also this week, village trustees inked extensions to naming rights agreements for the entertainment district and nearby sports complex that includes an indoor sports dome and 2,000-seat softball stadium.
Harwood Heights-based Parkway Bank & Trust Co., which has had the naming rights since 2018, will maintain its sponsorship of both venues through 2025, albeit at cheaper rates due to the economic effects of COVID-19, village officials said.
The bank will pay the village $127,500 by June and a lump sum of $1.8 million at the start of 2022 for the entertainment district branding. Under the previous deal, Parkway had been paying in quarterly installments for a total of $600,000 a year.
For the sports complex on the other side of the Tri-State Tollway, Parkway will pay $22,500 by June and $300,000 at the start of 2022. The bank had been paying $100,000 a year.