Clarendon Hills Coffee Shop Nears Opening Deadline

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – A long-awaited downtown Clarendon Hills coffee shop has an April 30 deadline to finish its renovation.

It's unclear if that will happen.

Sparrow Coffee's deadline is part of an agreement with the Village Board for a project subsidy.

Asked about the opening date, owner Chris Chacko said in an email late last week, "Our goal is to open at best speed; however, construction is very fluid, meaning that we are doing everything within our means to appropriate construction resources towards this end."

He did not say whether the restaurant would meet the deadline.

Chacko is working to combine three previous units into one at 100 Park Ave.

Last month, Clarendon Hills ordered the project halted, with village staffers saying they identified a safety concern and several maintenance issues at the site. They were corrected days later.

Under the subsidy agreement, Sparrow Coffee had been required to finish the work by last Halloween, but the Village Board granted a six-month extension.

At the time, Chacko said the construction crew had encountered hurdles. The separate buildings, he said, had long ago been put together in a "haphazard and unorthodox fashion."

In October 2024, Chacko reached an agreement with the village for a $622,000 subsidy.

The subsidy is coming from a tax increment financing district, or TIF, where growth in property tax income is reinvested in the district. The idea is that the growth in property value over time would reimburse the tax district for the subsidy.

Sparrow Coffee has locations in Naperville and Chicago.