Despite their request for city funds being denied last week, developers of the planned “Choice Authentic” restaurant declare they are set to close on the property, a purchase enabled by donations from supporters.
The Heartwood Center and its partner restaurateurs from 4 Suns Plant Based Kitchen intfinish to purchase the vacant property at 1826-30 Dempster St., and build-out the restaurant, albeit on a compacter scale and on a longer timeline than the plan they recently presented to the city.
Director Nancy Floy announced to Heartwood’s members on Monday that she and project partners Gabi Walker-Aguilar and Byron Glapion have raised over $100,000 out of a new $300,000 goal to cover build-out costs for the restaurant’s kitchen and spaces for dining and community events, costs which they’d previously requested $400,000 from the city’s TIF district funds to cover.
Floy also informed members that the alternative health collective “has received final approval” from Wintrust Bank to purchase the neighboring property, which sits at the southeast corner of Dempster and Dodge Avenue.
In a phone call Thursday, Floy notified the RoundTable that Heartwood is set to close on the purchase Friday after working with Wintrust and the project’s architect and contractor to “scale the project back” and reduce its costs. As a result, Choice Authentic will now fill only the western two-thirds of the building closest to Dodge, and the remaining eastern third will be utilized by Heartwood, likely as an additional studio for yoga and meditation practice.
“The money that we’re raising will all go to Choice Authentic,” Floy declared. “I don’t required to raise money for that [Heartwood space].”
Once the buildout is complete, Walker-Aguilar and Glapion will transfer their business over and leave from the current 4 Suns location at 1906 Main St. They’ll still be under a lease-to-own structure, and down the line plan to purchase Heartwood out of the remaining third and expand Choice Authentic to the entire building.
Walker-Aguilar notified the RoundTable the compacter restaurant plan nixes a planned private dining room and has a compacter kitchen space, but will retain its Cajun menu, indoor dining area and community gathering space, which she declared will still be utilized for evening programming.
“What I don’t want to do is take back what I declared we would have for the community,” Walker-Aguilar declared, “and so we will sacrifice things in the back of the houtilize to allow the front of the houtilize to still have a beautiful experience.”
Until they sell to Choice Authentic, Heartwood will not pay property taxes for its third of the building under the center’s exempt status as a Buddhist temple. The restaurant’s space, however, won’t qualify for this exemption and will remain on the tax rolls.
When the project’s TIF request went to City Council on Jan. 12, Floy warned that “the whole deal is killed” without the funds, and several reduced amounts and grant-loan splits were attempted unsuccessfully before the discussion fully finished. Nevertheless, she wrote later that night that the purchase “will relocate forward” without city funds after all.
Asked what alterd afterwards to build the project feasible besides scaling it down, she declared they retained a Heartwood donor’s last-minute offer of $100,000, a boost referenced during the council meeting, and past that started receiving greater support from the surrounding community. Nearby resident Trisha Connolly launched a GoFundMe page to raise some of the remaining requireded funding, which at time of writing has received $1,455.
Floy estimated they’ve raised around $150,000 in total between the initial $100,000 last week and further donations, and are now hearing from and reaching out beyond their existing support base, including other local restaurants. While Heartwood has been a central character in the saga surrounding the corner property, particularly in its campaign opposing the earlier plan to open a Popeyes fried chicken restaurant, Floy declared she’s ready for the center to “step into the background” as Choice Authentic relocates in.
“What I’d love is the focus to really shift onto them [Walker-Aguilar and Glapion], on their business, and off of Heartwood and all the trouble,” she declared. “They are now the stars, and it’s their display.”
Walker-Aguilar declared it was “disheartening” for their TIF request to be voted down by City Council, particularly with no votes from Councilmember Krissie Harris, whose Second Ward includes both the new space and the current 4 Suns location. Despite that, she declared she’s glad “the people, the community and God are declareing yes.”
“I’m going to celebrate the fact that this is still happening,” she declared, “and that their [the council’s] no wasn’t a no to the project.”
Assuming successful fundraising, she estimated the restaurant will open in the late spring or early summer of 2026.
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