A prospective buyer of Szechwan Beijing had their liquor license tentatively approved by the Oak Park Village Board, but the Chinese restaurant’s owner says he’s not sure he’s going to give the space to them.
David Chung, Szechwan Beijing’s owner, says he’s owned the property at 1107 South Boulevard since 1993. He’s looking to retire and sell the 7,2000 square-foot space.
“We’ve been here over 20 years and I’m looking to retire, to get some fresh blood to take over,” Chung said.
Since at least 2009 he’s had the business, located across the street from the CTA’s Harlem Green line stop, on the market, but said no one’s given him a serious offer.
That may have changed last Monday, when the village granted a conditional restaurant class liquor license to Michael Connolly and his wife Natalie for the property. The couple wants to open Connolly’s Pub, a farm-to-table dining experience. They said they’ve been in talks with Chung about leasing the property.
“It’s a family business, that’s important to us,” said Michael Connolly. “I know [the name] is a bit cliche, but it’s actually very important to us. In the tradition of Ireland, a public house is meant to be community center, a place to gather.”
The food the Connollys plan on serving isn’t freezer-to-deep-fryer pub fare. Instead, they say they want to use fresh ingredients that “bring pub food into the new millennium,” as Natalie Connolly put it.
But the news of Connolly’s Public House getting a conditional liquor license came as a surprise to Chung, as he didn’t think the Connollys were serious.
“We’re still looking for someone to buy from us or lease under us,” said Chung.
He said he’d been negotiating with the Connollys for the past five months but didn’t think they were serious about the deal. So he’s been operating his business as normal and looking for other potential buyers.
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Michael Connolly said the reason he and his wife didn’t enter into a deal with Chung back in April was because they were uncomfortable with not knowing if they were going to be able to secure a liquor license with the village.
“We’ll get back on with him and get that sorted out,” said Michael Connolly. “Once we have all the terms ironed out, we expect it would be a couple of months before we open.”
Oak Park Trustee Adam Salzman, who also serves as the village’s liquor commissioner, said Szechwan’s liquor license would stay in effect until there’s a valid signed lease between the Connollys and Chung.
“The Connollys need to come to us with a signed lease to get the liquor license from the village,” said Oak Park Village Attorney Paul Stephanides.
During the April 20 meeting where the Village Board conditionally approved the liquor license for Connolly’s, the couple said they had already submitted a letter of intent to purchase the property from Chung.
But Chung says that letter’s no good.
“I’m not going to wait for [the Connollys]. The letter of intent they gave me was given way past the deadline, so I’m not going to honor that,” said Chung. “They haven’t signed the lease, they don’t want to put the money down, but they’re applying for a liquor license? That’s not right. I want to clarify this with the village: No one has signed a lease.”
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.