Owner expands, plans new restaurant for Plainfield's Opera House Block

PLAINFIELD – One of Plainfield’s landmark buildings is being expanded and put to a new use.

Owner Bill Habiger is expanding the Opera House Block, known to more recent generations as the Clock Tower building.

Both names are dated, since the building’s function as the village’s so-called opera house is long gone and the Clock Tower Restaurant that gave the structure its second name closed decades ago.

Habiger’s project, already in progress, will revive the opera house history, since a new restaurant will feature the original name of the building when it was erected in 1899.

“It got the name, the Clock Tower, from the restaurant that was in here 30 years,” Habiger said this week while providing a tour of the building. “But its original name was the Opera House Block. The restaurant will be called the Opera House Steak and Seafood Restaurant.”

The plan is to open the restaurant in spring 2016.

A plaque on the outside wall dubs the building by its original name and notes its status as a local landmark. The village of Plainfield gave it landmark status in 2014.

Small towns in the 19th century had what were called opera houses, Habiger said. They were community buildings and used for local performances.

Opera house restaurant

Habiger is building a two-story addition to the rear of the building that will complement the historic structure and is needed for the restaurant. He said there was an addition in the same spot when he bought the building, but it was in bad shape, and he tore it down.

The building has three tenants on the first floor, including Blu, a bar run by Mike and Casey Vaughn. The Vaughns also will run the Opera House Steak and Seafood Restaurant; they own HopScotch & Vine restaurant in downtown Plainfield, as well.

The other tenants are a hair salon and boutique.

Angela Salazar owns the Me Tu Boutique Bella. She said business is “phenomenal” thanks in part to the historic feel of the building, which customers notice.

“They absolutely love it. They love that it’s real old,” she said. “It’s very comfortable when they walk in.”

$1 million restoration

Salazar said Habiger’s restoration contributed to the appeal of the building.

“I’m so glad he didn’t change much. He just made it nicer,” she said.

The Opera House Block is a cornerstone building, like the Masonic Block building with its familiar turret at the other end of the block of Lockport Street, said Michael Bortel, chairman of the Plainfield Historic Preservation Commission.

The downtown area is a nationally registered historic district, so the condition of the opera house is important, Bortel said.

“The building had been remodeled by various previous owners,” he said. “[Habiger] took it back to the way it looked back when it was originally built in 1899.”

Habiger said he spent about $1 million restoring the Opera House Block in 2010 after acquiring the building in a tax sale. He wouldn’t say how much he’s spending now, other than that “it keeps going up.”

The restaurant will go upstairs in what was the opera house auditorium.

“This was the ticket booth,” Habiger said after reaching the top of a staircase and pointing to a space now marked by beams.

One large wall painted blue with geese figures reflects a later use of the auditorium as a dance hall called The Blue Goose. The geese have become a bit disfigured and faded with age.

“We’re going to keep this wall,” Habiger said. “We’re going to keep one goose.”

Habiger and his wife, Diane, own Lincolnshire Properties, a Joliet-based real estate management company.

Their investment in the opera house, in part, reflects the success of downtown Plainfield, Habiger said.

“Plainfield spent a lot of money on the downtown area right before the recession,” he said. “They have an active [tax increment financing] program. The downtown area has really improved a lot. The idea was to make it a destination point with a lot of foot traffic, and they’re succeeding.”