Evanston’s Economic Development Committee Wednesday night rejected a request for a $50,000 city grant from the owner of the Kabul House restaurant under construction at 2424 Dempster St.
Restaurant owner Akmal Qazi sought the grant to cover unexpected cost increases in renovation work on the building that formerly housed Chicago’s Home of Chicken & Waffles.
The 2424 Dempster property last October in an image from Google Maps.
The city ended up eating a $154,000 loss on a $200,000 loan it made to the Chicken & Waffles owners in order to close the sale of the building to Qazi.
The construction site on Wednesday morning.
Qazi has since made substantial renovations to the building, adding more windows that he says will let drivers on Dempster see into the building and easily recognize that it houses a restaurant.
The new design also features a sleek porcelain facade that Qazi says “looks like marble.”
Qazi says he’s investing about $350,000 in upgrades to the building including items that he only discovered after closing on the property that the previous owners had skimped on.
The grant request came to the committee at the request of Alderman Peter Braithwaite, whose 2nd Ward includes the restaurant site.
City staff made no recommendation regarding the request, noting that the site technically wasn’t currently eligible for a grant under the city’s storefront modernization program, because the previous owners had received a grant under the same program.
Only Braithwaite and Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, voted in favor of the proposal, but other committee members encouraged staff to explore whether a forgivable loan or some other form of assistance for the project could be devised.
Kabul House, which was initially started by Qazi’s father in Evanston, has won several food awards since moving to its current location in Skokie. Qazi says the move back to Evanston — and a new, larger space — will let him serve more restaurant customers and expand his catering business.
Good decision
Pleased to see that the Economic Development Committee rejected the request for a $50,000 gift of taxpayer money for this private business. But why would other members encourage staff to explore a forgivable loan or other assistance? Boggles my mind that Alderman and City employees think it’s ok to give away taxpayer money.
So much easier to give away other people’s money.
Kabul House is a private business. Let the owners reap the benefits and assume the risk of their business. If they need a loan refer them to Evanston First & Trust or another local financial institution. Financial institutions employ people who are trained in credit analysis, not so with the City of Evanston employees. Different organization, different skill sets.
TP
What was sown
Let us say the Kabul House is a good restuarnt—as their history seems to have shown. Let us also say they have good reasons to need city aid.
Is it possible that all the other unwise and underserved gifts the Council has given out over the years finally “broke the camels back” and even the Council [and voters who wrote them] said “No more” ?
Let’s hear it
Go ahead and tell us the reason they need 50k to make their private business a success. I’m sure that a locale lending company will be begging to give them more than they are requesting.