Yorkville Bowl, Pinheadz to re-open under new ownership

UPDATED 1:45 P.M. FRIDAY, JAN. 3:

YORKVILLE – A Yorkville bowling alley and bar on Route 47 will soon be opening under new ownership after the building was in foreclosure since mid-2019.

Lynn Dubajic, the city's economic development consultant, said in a memo ahead of a Tuesday, Jan. 7 Yorkville economic development committee meeting that Yorkville Bowl and Pinheadz, which was originally owned by Greg O'Leary, is set to re-open this month.

"The team from the Roadhouse Route 47, is taking over this Yorkville favorite" under the new name "Yorkville Pinz," Dubajic said.

The current owners of Roadhouse Rte. 47, which re-opened under new ownership last August, include Jay DeMarco, who also owns Kennedy Pointe in Bristol and Pearce's Pub & Grille in Oswego, and local business owner and developer John Cooney.

The update comes after the bowling alley and attached bar, along with the former Roadhouse Country Bar and Grill, had closed temporarily due to money being tight and the business being behind on state tax payments, according to O'Leary. The building for the bowling alley and bar was in foreclosure since May after the state shut down business operations and was still in foreclosure as of late September.

O'Leary said he is officially removed from ownership and operations for the bowling alley and bar in Yorkville as of Friday, Jan. 3. He said the bottom line is that he was basically off the hook of foreclosure before the beginning of the new year.

O'Leary said he is unsure about the exact re-opening date, but it's looking like the new owners and management are about to re-open the two businesses very soon.

“Which was important to me, too," O'Leary said. "If I was going to let this go, it was under the intention of full steam ahead.”

O'Leary deferred additional details about the sale and re-opening to Cooney.

Cooney said he and DeMarco are leasing the the bowling alley and attached bar property from the principal lender of the property mortgages. He said the new business, Yorkville Pinz, will have no affiliation with Yorkville Bowl or Pinheadz.

Cooney said management got into the property this week and have started cleaning the place up and the goal is to get the new business opened as soon as possible. As of Friday afternoon, he said, DeMarco currently is applying for liquor licenses with the city.

“As soon as those get approved, we will be scheduling a grand opening,” Cooney said.

According to Kendall County court records, First Midwest Bank filed a foreclosure complaint in May and the borrowers are in default of loans that were part of the former Yorkville Bowl property's first and second mortgages, with the amount totaling more than $1.6 million.

O'Leary had said the bar and bowling alley in Yorkville and Lakewood Bowl, another bowling alley that he owns in Richton Park that is also closed, are not on the same note but have separate mortgages with the same bank. He had said the two properties are cross-collateralized, meaning they are sold as a package.

O'Leary said he also no longer owns Lakewood Bowl, which was the Richton Park bowling alley.

Since the building went into foreclosure in May, the building previously was listed for sale at $3.5 million, according to real estate listings that have since been removed as of Thursday, Jan. 2 evening.

O'Leary said he still feels terrible about everything happening the way that it did and how unfair the sudden closure was for staff and patrons.

“I’m just glad that it sounds like these people are ready to go, go, go and get that place reopen and have that place ready for the city of Yorkville,” O'Leary said.

Cooney said he's looking forward to bringing more needed entertainment to the area, including bowling and live music. He said he hopes Yorkville patrons and others from nearby areas will come out and help them celebrate the re-opening soon.

“We're hopefully going to bring a new dynamic to Yorkville on the north side, as we have done on the south side with Roadhouse Rte. 47,” Cooney said.