‘Very prominent’ restaurants coming to Naperville’s Route 59 corridor

In a city with hundreds of restaurants, the anticipation around the Block 59 development in Naperville is starting to sizzle.

The new dining and entertainment district will boast an outdoor event plaza and a cluster of trendy restaurants on tap to open this year and next at the northeast corner of Route 59 and Aurora Avenue.

“While this city obviously has downtown Naperville, which we could never replace, and would never want to, we provide a second destination for folks to come and really have a great dining and entertainment experience,” said Rich Dippolito, vice president of redevelopment of Brixmor Property Group, the company behind the project.

The Cheesecake Factory and brunch spot First Watch plan to open at Block 59 in June, followed by Stan’s Donuts and then later in the summer, Piccolo Buco, a concept by Cooper’s Hawk.

Velvet Taco, FreshFin Poké, Crisp & Green, Yard House and Cava — with its Mediterranean-inspired menu — are all slated to open by the end of the year. Ruth’s Chris Steak House is expected to open in 2026.

Brixmor has done a “tremendous job of leasing to some very prominent restaurants and fast-casual facilities,” said John Melaniphy, president of retail consulting firm Melaniphy & Associates.

“They’ve really created a concentration of higher-end restaurants that will generate consumers on a highly frequent basis,” he said. “And that will help drive the retail sales in the retail stores in the project, in an environment where a lot of the big-box stores have not been growing as rapidly as they had in the past.”

More than 50% of the storefronts in the area were vacant and the developer was committing $53 million in the revitalization project, Mayor Scott Wehrli added.

“I think this is a real wonderful opportunity for the city,” Wehrli said.

A ‘cohesive development’

Brixmor demolished much of the former Heritage Square shopping center to make way for the new project adjacent to Westridge Court, which it also owns.

“The portion on the corner, Heritage Square, had about 200,000 square feet. One building was a two-story former department store,” Dippolito said. “And it was very difficult to lease … in addition to that, there were several very large, big-box locations, and there’s just a lot of that type of product along Route 59.”

Brixmor, however, saw an opportunity to reimagine a prime corner, blend it into the rest of Westridge Court and “really make it a cohesive development that has lots of retail and lots of restaurants,” Dippolito said.

“The big box stores are no longer so desirable,” Wehrli said. “So finding something new that’s going to bring people out, have a very walkable, unique experience, where there’ll be a mix of both retail as well as dining and entertainment, is going to be a really great mix, and I think that’s what the consumer wants.”

Block 59 will have about 91,000 square feet of new construction. That combined with Westridge Court, which includes The Fresh Market and Hollywood Palms Cinema, adds up to roughly 550,000 square feet of space.

“So, this brings the restaurant component into a very big retail environment,” Dippolito said.

A community center

There is space available at Block 59, with Dippolito pointing to a couple building pads around the event plaza. The outdoor space could host exercise classes, dance recitals or concerts.

“It’s a space for Naperville to come and enjoy, and then in the wintertime, we’re going to convert it to an ice rink,” Dippolito said.

The city created a business district to spur redevelopment of the area. The city will use funds generated by a special 1% tax on sales in the district to reimburse the developer for eligible infrastructure work and other upgrades.

Wehrli expects it to be a regional destination due to its proximity to Aurora and location along Route 59. The project is expected to be complete by the middle of 2026.

Naperville has long been the No. 2 dining destination in Illinois, based on revenues alone, Wehrli said.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250427/business/dining-destination-napervilles-block-59-district-to-bring-very-prominent-restaurants-to-route-59/