A corporate-owned chain of video gambling cafes based in the Chicago area is planning a new location in a Norridge strip mall.
Since video gambling was made legal last year under a push by Mayor James Chmura to bring in extra revenue for the town, Norridge’s video gambling scene has been taking off slowly, with only two local businesses — a sports bar and a German restaurant on Irving Park Road — hosting gaming terminals so far.
Stella’s Place, a Des Plaines-based chain of cafes with 27 locations in Illinois, according to the Illinois Gaming Board, will be the first corporate-owned video gambling establishment to open in the village. It will open in a corner space in the strip mall that was previously occupied by a yoga studio.
The parent company of Stella’s Place, Laredo Hospitality, has applied for a building permit to open in the Regency Plaza, a strip mall at 5050 North Cumberland Ave., according to Brian Gaseor, building commissioner for the village of Norridge.
The building permit is expected to be issued in early March, he said. A contractor’s permit was issued March 2, allowing for interior remodeling work to begin.
Calls to Laredo Hospitality’s corporate office inquiring about when the café would open were not returned this week.
The chain, which is also currently seeking approval from local officials to open in other suburbs including Lincolnwood and Morton Grove, is marketed to adults over 40, according to director of operations for Laredo Hospitality, Brian Wilson.
Wilson, who was at a recent Village Board meeting in Lincolnwood to ask officials there to consider reversing the town’s ban on gaming, described Stella’s Café as a café-style environment versus a typical bar that offers a beer and wine bar with a full menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The cafes are designed with a living room-like area for socializing in front, and the gaming areas are sectioned off in the back of the room, Wilson said when he presented plans for the café to officials in Lincolnwood March 1.
“We want it to feel like a premium gaming experience,” Wilson said. “The games aren’t visible when you walk in — it just looks like a really nice café.”
Patrons have already poured more than $1 million into the eight machines in Norridge’s only two bars that host gaming, according to state data accessed in December 2015. The two locations currently hosting machines are Edelweiss and Newbe’s Sports Bar & Grill, which are just a few blocks down the road from each other on Irving Park Road.
Two more applications for video gambling licenses were filed with the village last month, from Lazer Knights Bar & Grill on the 8500 block of West Lawrence Avenue, and from Villa Napoli on the 8500 block of West Lawrence Avenue.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
