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player ready...When Riyaz Ali and his wife Noor Alkhawaja were in college, they would visit local coffee shops and dream about the day when they could open their own café.
That dream is becoming a reality thanks in part to Skokie’s 20-year-plus campaign to create a vibrant downtown core. The village has poured hundreds of million of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars into the effort and the new café is the latest business to take advantage of the financial help.
“Making our idea a reality is much easier if you have help with funding,” Ali said. “We’re pushing our ambition, so the money helps a lot.”
Skokie’s Downtown Incentives Program uses TIF funds to attract retailers, restaurants and other commercial users to the north suburb’s downtown core, and the Skokie village board during its Jan. 3 meeting voted to give Ali and his wife a $44,353 grant to do a build-out of a building at 4933 Oakton, where they plan to open a coffee shop called the Complimentary Café in February or March.
Leslie Murphy, Skokie’s economic development specialist, said the café is a bright spot in what has been a gloomy two years dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is one of our ‘COVID pluses’ because we have had several new vacancies in the downtown as a result of the pandemic, but this particular building has been vacant for way longer,” Murphy told the board on Jan. 3.
“We have been sort of wringing our hands for years because it’s right across the street from a major redevelopment project,” she said. “We just think it’s a perfect opportunity to use TIF dollars to get a vacant space occupied and to help some entrepreneurs brings another coffee shop into the downtown.”
Some of the smaller business that have taken advantage of the Skokie grants include Take Flight Spirits, which received $99,250; Sketchbook Brewing Company, which received $153,000; Ignite Gaming Lounge, which got $153,000; Alexander’s Breakfast and Lunch, which got $100,000, and the Village Inn Pizzeria, which got $49,070, among others, said Murphy.
Ali, 26, has entered into a seven-year lease for the 1,200-square-foot building, and the build-out of Complimentary Café will include interior renovation and demolition, construction of two new bathrooms, upgraded plumbing and electrical, new flooring, counters and reception area and other related equipment upgrades and improvements, according to a memo from the village. It said improvements for the exterior facade include painting and new signage and that the total rehabilitation cost is approximately $84,430. The maximum grant under the village’s program is $44,353.
Complimentary Café will have work and seating areas and host community gatherings like book clubs and small business workshops. It will also offer locally-sourced food and coffee, tea, and “compliments,” Ali said.
“Our plan is to write a compliment on each cup,” he explained. “‘Hey we love your hair, or your shoes. Hey we hope you have an amazing day!'”
“You get the compliment and you get the drink,” said Ali, who met his wife, Noor Alkhawaja, when she was his English tutor while they were both students at Elmhurst University.
He said they are staying positive despite COVID-19 and his battle with leukemia.
“Coffee shops are so nice because it’s a place where you can work,” he said. “It’s not like a library, completely silent. Some people get inspired by things when they’re around other people rather than sitting in a library inside a study room.”