Business owner plans to bring music to new bar, cigar store at former McHenry bank

Bert Irslinger, owner of the Second Amendment Sports shooting range in downtown McHenry, said he felt like the city was missing something from its nightlife scene and decided to change that earlier this year.

He came up with a plan to open an upscale, after-dinner cocktail lounge featuring live music performances at the former First Midwest Bank building at 4502 W. Crystal Lake Road that had been vacant for years.

It will serve mainly drinks and little to no food – perhaps only snacks or finger foods – and also sell cigars. Plans also call for a designated outdoor smoking area that can be enclosed by garage doors when the weather is cool or at night when performers are playing.

The music won’t be multipiece rock bands but likely solo performers.

“Think about a lounge singer or someone on a keyboard in the corner,” Irslinger said, adding that he wants to help showcase local talent.

He thinks such a spot could attract consumers from across McHenry County when they’ve had an evening out, and are looking for a place to extend their night while still dressed to impress.

“We’re always open to either ideas or concepts that we think could be not only good for us but good for the community and good for the area,” Irslinger said. “We’re really excited.”

He hopes to open the place, which has yet to be named, by next summer.

But there still is work to be done to transform the building from a bank into a bar.

The area that used to be teller and ATM drive-thru lanes will be converted into a patio, and the overhang will be equipped with sliding doors to allow the strip to be converted between an outdoor patio and an enclosed hangout.

Before the tavern opens to the public, a hefty safe inside the bank – there is no vault, to Irslinger’s dismay – that weighs an estimated 8,000 pounds will need to be removed, likely by a crane through the front door.

Irslinger and his co-owner and father, McHenry optometrist Bertram Irslinger, are making their first leap into operating a hospitality-based drink service business, although the elder Irslinger has invested in taverns before without playing a direct role in their management, his son said.

They are in talks with architectural designers and contractors about the site’s needs and expressed optimism that the new spot will prove to be a viable location for a place to grab a drink.

“There is some trepidation, of course,” Bert Irslinger said. “Anytime you’re planning and opening up a new business, there is a lot of risk that goes into the investment. Finding staff and employment in this day and age is not easy. We’re excited, yes, excited to see it come to fruition, absolutely 100%. But none of that is without some nerves.”