The old Woolworth building at 31 S. Grove Ave. in downtown Elgin has sat as city office space and storage for decades, generating no property or sales tax revenue. That could soon change after the Elgin City Council gave preliminary approval this week to a redevelopment plan that would turn the two-story building into a destination featuring a fine-dining restaurant, a neighborhood market, and a sports bar with a rooftop patio.
The council unanimously agreed during Wednesday’s committee-of-the-whole meeting to provide just under $2 million in Central Area TIF funds to assist developer GPRETAM LLC, according to the Daily Herald. The agreement still requires a final council vote at a future meeting before it’s locked in. GPRETAM LLC includes partners Robert Hanrahan, Luis Colin and Juan Urzua, and the firm is purchasing the property from the city for its appraised value of $410,000.
The plan would convert the roughly 30,000-square-foot building from its current mix of offices, storage and vacant space into a full downtown destination. Along with the fine-dining restaurant, market and rooftop sports bar, the proposal may include a fitness and strength-training facility in the basement, though that piece has not been finalized. Project developers say they have not yet decided on exact tenants for the spaces.
City Sweetens the Deal With Fees and Fast-Tracked Permits
Beyond the TIF assistance, the city of Elgin has agreed to waive all development-related fees and provide fast-track building-permit review for the project, per the same report. Elgin’s Central Area Tax Increment Financing District, which was created in 2002 to spur downtown economic development, has been a recurring funding source for projects like this one. The district was scheduled to expire in December 2025, and officials had been weighing a 12-year extension that would require approval from the Illinois General Assembly, according to earlier chicagotribune.com reporting, which also noted the district had $5.1 million available for other initiatives in 2025…