When Clarendon Hills Coffee Shop May Open

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – The owner of a coming coffee shop in downtown Clarendon Hills gave village officials an idea of when it may open.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Sparrow Coffee owner Chris Chacko said he aimed for early summer.

On Monday, the Village Board extended its $622,000 subsidy agreement with Sparrow for another six months, with Halloween being the deadline.

The agreement originally called for Sparrow to be ready by last Halloween. When it wasn't, the village gave the business another six months.

During Monday's meeting, Ed Cage, the village's community development director, said a new practice of weekly meetings on Sparrow's progress has already paid dividends.

At Monday's board meeting, village trustees called for even more updates on the project.

Chacko said he could do that, but expressed reservations.

"We feel almost like we're letting down the community, saying we're going to open at a certain time and we don't," he said. "This is a fluid construction project."

Sparrow has worked to combine three units into one at 100 Park Ave.

Sparrow's 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 increased tax income would reimburse the district for the subsidy.

Sparrow Coffee has locations in Naperville and Chicago.