Downtown Batavia serving up new restaurant

BATAVIA – A full-service restaurant will open in a portion of the downtown Batavia Plaza space formerly occupied by the Walgreens store.

Riverside Pizza & Pub, which operates restaurants in St. Charles and South Elgin, is expected to expand into the vacant space at 142 W. Wilson St. this fall.

The commercial center is owned by BEI Properties, a major property development and management firm in the Fox Valley.

BEI Properties CEO Austin Dempsey said the 12,650-square-foot space will be divided, with the restaurant taking over the eastern 5,000 square feet, next door to Daddio’s Diner.

Batavia Community Development Director Scott Buening said the restaurant has applied for a building permit and that the plans are now under review.

The restaurant owners could not immediately be reached for comment.

Riverside’s locations in St. Charles at 102 E. Main St. and South Elgin at 456 Redington Drive have menus featuring pizza, pasta, burgers, sandwiches, salads, wings and other pub fare.

“This will be a great complement to downtown Batavia,” Dempsey said.

The former Walgreens space has been vacant for more than two years, since the drugstore moved across the parking lot into a new structure at 122 W. Wilson St., specially built for the retailer by BEI.

In the interim, BEI came close to putting together a deal with Blue Goose Market of St. Charles to open a grocery store in the space. That deal, which included financial incentives to BEI from the city of Batavia, ultimately collapsed when BEI and Blue Goose could not agree on the rent, one of various factors.

When making plans to remodel the space for Blue Goose, Dempsey had wanted to remove the drop ceiling that was installed when Walgreens moved in during the early 1990s.

That plan now will move forward, Dempsey said, to reveal a stunning wood truss system and creating an open air feel to the space.

BEI is not asking the city for any financial incentives to attract the restaurant, Dempsey said.

There will be some changes to the brick building facade, Dempsey said, and a second entrance will be constructed to serve the remaining 7,650-square-foot space, which Dempsey hopes to fill with a retail store.

Dempsey said the restaurant will apply to the city for a liquor license.

Buening said the remodeling plans will go before the Batavia Historic Preservation Commission to consider the changes to the building facade and signs.

For three decades, the space was home to a Jewel food store before Walgreens moved in.

Constructed in 1961, Batavia Plaza hosts a variety of businesses, including Panera Bread, Prairie Path Cycles, East China Inn, Great Clips, Coin Laundry and Crown Liquors & Tobacco.