Texas-based steakhouse plans third suburban location outside Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills
Texas-based Perry's Steakhouse & Grill is the previously unnamed eatery to be incorporated into the ongoing reinvention of Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills.
The 11,000-square-foot restaurant will seat up to 350 people and include four private dining rooms on a free-standing site at the southwest corner of Ring Road and Milwaukee Avenue. Patio dining will accommodate another 45 patrons.
Vernon Hills will be the chain's third Chicago-area location when it opens in late 2023. Perry's has been in the suburbs for nine years and operates in Oak Brook and Schaumburg, as well as Denver, Nashville, Raleigh, North Carolina, Coral Gables, Florida, Birmingham, Alabama, and 13 sites in Texas. A store in Richmond, Virginia, also is slated to open in 2023.
The restaurant is known for an award-winning menu featuring butcher-fresh steaks; “impeccable” service; and, a “vibrantly elegant, yet comfortable atmosphere,” according to a news release announcing the upcoming opening.
The concept for an upscale but unnamed steakhouse on the Hawthorn Mall perimeter surfaced in March. The idea whetted the appetite of village officials as a potential draw for other high-profile tenants in the ongoing $252 million Hawthorn 2.0 redevelopment.
“I'd say it's a home run,” village Trustee David Oppenheim said at the time.
The identity was under wraps even a few weeks ago when the village board informally approved tweaks in redevelopment plans for the mall and surrounding property to allow for what had been described as a “high-end, award-winning” steakhouse.
“Anytime a new tenant with the stature of Perry's Steakhouse & Grille comes on board, it absolutely attracts the attention of other new prospective tenants,” said Jeff Rutzen, Hawthorn general manager.
Dallas-based Centennial Real Estate, the mall owner and master developer of the expansive remake of the 1970s-era property, sought approvals to resubdivide 5 acres to accommodate the restaurant.
Centennial also was given the go-ahead to begin mass grading and other site preparations to ready it for construction in the spring.
Perry's Restaurants is described as a Texas-based boutique restaurant group with butcher shop/deli roots in Houston. The first restaurant opened in 1993. A “Rare and Well Done” dining experience and “Bar 79” (named after the year Perry's was founded) are trademarked features.
Perry's Vernon Hills was designed in partnership with Chicago-based Aria Group Architects Inc., according to the release.
The Vernon Hills location will feature an expansive main dining room providing glimpses from all angles of chefs at work. Other design elements include a towering wine wall, vibrant color palette, and “an exquisite use of glass, lighting and other textures,” to create an inviting dining environment.
Work on the overall development is progressing. The first building of the 311-unit The Domaine luxury apartments is nearing completion and will be ready for residents early next year, Rutzen said.
New shopping and dining options will open on Hawthorn Row (former Sears anchor site) later in 2023, he added.
In September, the village board approved a revised plan for the former Carson's anchor site that calls for an expanded grand plaza, 55,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space, a new mall entry and 250 luxury apartments. That second phase of the mall property redevelopment is expected to begin early next year and be completed by January 2025.