This isn’t the first rodeo for Kent Mills and Mark Farnan, the local developers seeking to turn a vacant lot at 3415 Maple Ave. into a sports bar and grilled called the Eight Corners Restaurant.
“Mark and I met as commodities traders at the Chicago Mercantile, I would have to say late ‘90s. We traded for about 15 years, and then the floor shut down,” Mills told the Landmark. “I live in Countryside. Mark lives in LaGrange Park. A lot of my friends that I went to high school with — Lyons Township, I went to — we’re all still friends, and they were friends with Mark, so we always stayed in touch.”
In the years since, the pair have backed several bars, including one in Hodgkins, one in Countryside and even one in Naples, Florida, Mills said.
“We had an idea. We were like, ‘Alright, you know what? We’re getting older, and maybe it’s time to grow up a little bit and start our own,’” he said. “We play softball once in a while in Brookfield, and there’s the Cordial Inn that’s also over there, and we kept on driving by this lot about five or six years ago. We were like, ‘It’s a beautiful view of the skyline. What’s going on with this lot?’”
Mills said he and Farnan reached out to the village with their idea, which included a rooftop seating area from the start, and quickly heard back from staff with the affirmative.
He said the developing duo would not be on-site in the restaurant’s day-to-day operation, instead opting to hire a couple of local restaurant workers to manage their staff, though they’ll stay involved on the financial side.
“We’ll each have an office there, but we’re going to be hands-off,” Mills said.
He said they hope to feature live music, trivia nights and golf simulators to attract guests during off-peak hours.
“We’re just trying to bring everyone together at a good, safe place,” he said. “We want everyone to be comfortable, but we also want them to enjoy what we built.”
The plan for the development went before the village board for initial discussion at its committee of the whole meeting Monday night after the planning and zoning commission unanimously recommended the proposal, including several variations from village code in regard to signage and parking, on March 26.
At the committee meeting, Village Planner Scott Viger said the current site plan included only 30 parking spots, 26 in an on-site lot plus four street parking spots out front, while village code would dictate the site have 59 parking spots.
“There was testimony given at the planning and zoning commission that, when you look at the Eight Corners neighborhood and the on-street parking, we know there’s a lot,” Viger said. “The feeling of staff, certainly the petitioners and the [PZC], was that the parking variation was acceptable based on the proximity of such a large number of on-street cars.”
He said the petitioners are working with the owners of Tischler’s Finer Foods for a possible agreement to allow extra parking in the grocer’s lot, which directly borders the now-vacant site with a fence.
Some trustees said the existing parking plan, which would have visitors either enter or exit the on-site lot through the one-way alleyway that starts south of the Citgo gas station and connects to Monroe Avenue, would necessitate new signage so drivers don’t try to enter from Monroe.
The developers and their architect, Alexander Kozionnyi of A Studio Architects, said they may implement valet parking to ease the visitor experience.
Otherwise, the village board seemed supportive of the proposal and agreed to put the code variations up to a vote at their next board meeting on April 27.
