After fire and building demolished, World Famous pizza’s Sycamore location stalls

SYCAMORE – A well-known local pizza shop that burned down a year ago and had planned to move to a different downtown Sycamore location recently ran into some financial obstacles in re-opening the restaurant, the shop’s owner said.

Sycamore Building and Engineer Director John Sauter said during a recent City Council meeting local pizza business World Famous was looking to relocate to 307 W. State St. in downtown Sycamore, where former shoe store Stomp used to be.

“And work should begin in the next four to six weeks,” Sauter said during the meeting.

However, Sauter said earlier this month he recently reached out to World Famous ownership regarding a permitting follow-up question. He said he was told the project was “postponed indefinitely” and he deferred additional comment to Matt Binder, owner of World Famous and one of the listed new owners of Lord Stanley’s in DeKalb.

According to emails obtained by the Daily Chronicle through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, Binder wrote in an Aug. 2 email to Sauter the original quote for the project “doubled in price.”

“We don’t have the funds to do the project as of now,” Binder said. “We are getting bids from other contractors but it’s not looking good – might have to sell the building.”

Binder said Friday that restaurant management is continuing to work on re-opening the Sycamore location. He confirmed he had an estimate with the contractor at beginning, but he said “the price has since doubled.”

Binder said he’s looking at different contractors and possible different project options in the meantime.

“So we’re kind of on hold right now until we figure out the financing to get it up and running,” Binder said.

Binder said it’s his understanding that skyrocketing material costs spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic might be to blame, along with the estimate simply being incorrect. He said he still owns the building and he’s ultimately still trying to re-open at the West State Street location.

“It’s just maybe going to be a while,” Binder said. “If we can’t figure that out, we probably won’t open in Sycamore.”

Binder’s comments came after demolition of the pizza shop’s former East State Street location began on Thursday. Following the demolition, the DeKalb County History Center shared the property’s “rich history” in a social media post.

“Claus Loptien came to Sycamore from Germany in 1874 and opened a blacksmith shop at what is today 126 E. State Street,” history center staff wrote in the post. “He later expanded the business to include the manufacturing of carriages, wagons and sleighs. He operated this business until his death in 1910.”

Three businesses in Sycamore, including World Famous, sustained heavy damage after an early morning fire in September 2020 in the 100 block of East State Street in Sycamore. The fire caused half a million dollars worth of total damage.

Fire officials previously said the fire came from State Street Laundry and also destroyed Spider Tattooz, formerly owned by late Sycamore Ward 4 Alderman Rick “Spider” Kramer and currently run by Brian Fleetwood.

According to Sycamore Fire Department reports of the 2020 incident, the fire “seemed to start from the basket” of oil- and grease-soaked rags from an unnamed local bar and restaurant that were being washed and dried by laundromat staff. Sycamore police officials wrote in their report another cart nearby “had melted detergent bottles in it.”

Fire officials wrote in their report laundromat video surveillance showed “no one had been in the origin room for almost nine hours” as the fire smoldered. Police reports noted the same.

“It is this investigator’s opinion that the origin of the fire was the laundry basket with the rags from the local business, with the cause being spontaneous combustion from oil-soaked rags,” the fire report reads. “With the rags being given a significant head start on the heating process by being in a commercial dryer and then being placed in the laundry basket, the determination of this fire is accidental.”

Binder said “what happened was unfortunate” and insurance issues are still being worked out following the September 2020 fire in the pizza parlor’s Sycamore location.

Binder, who is also one of the new owners of Lord Stanley’s in DeKalb, said he and the other owners are still in process of buying Lord Stanley’s, which also has World Famous serving food in the bar. Lord Stanley’s also recently won approval for an updated operating permit from the DeKalb City Council, as part of the new ownership process. If worse comes to worst, Binder said one option is for World Famous to just operate solely out of the DeKalb location within Stanley’s.

“That’s worst-case scenario,” Binder said. “I don’t plan on reopening anywhere other than Sycamore.”