Montgomery Village Board set to consider plans, incentive pact for Cooper’s Hawk winery and restaurant

The Montgomery Village Board is set to consider plans for the development of a Cooper’s Hawk winery and restaurant in the Ogden Hill shopping center overlooking the intersection of Route 30 and Route 34.

Cooper’s Hawk is seeking Village Board approval of a special use permit to offer outdoor dining, a package of variances from the village’s exterior facade and signage requirements, the creation of a new liquor license and an economic incentive agreement for the business.

The requests are on the agenda for the Village Board’s next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, June 12, at Village Hall.

Cooper’s Hawk currently operates 16 wineries and restaurants in the Chicago area as well as other locations across the country.

In addition to a wine bar, each location offers a “modern, casual dining experience with warm hospitality in an inviting upscale setting” with “each dish made fresh in our scratch kitchen,” according to the firm’s website.

In Montgomery, the firm is proposing to construct a winery and restaurant with just under 10,000 square feet of floor space, including a 719 square foot outdoor seating area.

The firm has asked the village to create a new Class T liquor license classification to accommodate the winery and its wine club.

The Class T license would allow the firm to offer a wine tasting bar in the retail wine area of the business, allow the retail sale of wine in original packages (not for consumption on site) and the retail sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises within the restaurant area.

The firm estimates its investment in the Montgomery location will be about $8 million and the business will generate annual sales of $7 million to $8 million while creating 150 full-and-part-time jobs.

The proposed economic incentive agreement calls for the village to rebate 75% of the sales tax revenues to Cooper’s Hawk for the first five years of the pact with the village retaining the remaining 25%. During years 6-10 of the agreement, the village would split the sales tax revenues 50-50 with the firm, and from years 11-15, the village would receive 75% of the sales tax revenues with the Cooper’s Hawk receiving 25%.

The agreement sets a cap of $750,000 on the amount of sales tax revenues that could be rebated to the firm.

According to a village staff memo, the village would receives $600,000 in sales tax revenues from Cooper’s Hawk’s over the 15-year period of the agreement, based on the firm’s sales tax revenues projections.

In addition, the memo notes the agreement does not include revenues from the village’s non-home rule sales tax, which funds the village’s Infrastructure Repair Program (IRP) and Property Tax Rebate program. The village is estimated to collect $1.2 million in non-home rule sales tax revenues from the Cooper’s Hawk over the 15-year life of the incentive agreement, according to the memo.

During a public hearing June 1, the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend the Village Board approve Cooper Hawk’s request for a special use to allow for outdoor dining area and the variances.