By ERIC LINDEN

The day before the Avenue Ale House and Rooftop Cafe opened on Tuesday
not a few Oak Park residents, people in business and village government
officials were hoping a bit of positive Oak Park history will be
repeated.

The darkly handsome and menu-generous was open for business--a bit later
than originally hoped for and still without the rooftop cafe--for the
first time on May 9, the day after a preview reception for business and
government types and friends of the private parties also responsible for
cleaning up the building at 825 S. Oak Park Ave. that had been one of
Oak Park's long-time eyesores.

Less than a year ago, the Ale House building was the empty and decrepit
space vacated for more than a decade by the old Blackstone variety
store.  Effort after effort to find a way to improve the property and
revive its business prospects had gone nowhere until village government
stepped in and made moves that led to the spanking new restaurant.

And that's about what happened two decades ago to the commercial
building at the southwest corner of Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street.
Village hall funding helped to bring a new owner and new life to that
building, which had struggled since the former Gilmore's department
store had closed. New office tenants and new retail businesses in the
restore Scoville Square building quickly improve the corner, but it was
a new restaurant--now called Cafe Winberie but originally called the
Cheese Cellar--that started a renewal and expansion of the Oak Park-Lake
business area. That's the history officials now are hoping to repeat
further south on Oak Park Avenue.

The preview night of Ale House gave hope to that prospect. In the gutted
commercial building, the new restaurant opening this week has much to
offer, chiefly a high-class design and a menu as extensive as there is
locally.

Walls are bare brick, sparsely decorated with bar signs advertising
Bass, Guiness, Harp and Gaffrey's, some of the dozens of beers to choose
from. The feature is a dark, wood in the center and is surrounded by
booths and small tables in the restaurant's front section. More-formal
dining tables have been set up on a rear section behind a wall that
backs up to the bar-serving area. Three television monitors on both long
sides of the bar, a performing area large enough for small combos, music
like a jazzy version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and other touches, provide
variety and exude comfort.

Food-wise, the early menu is a 71-item menu that offers
steak-rib-or-chop dinners, appetizers like jalapeno poppers or a jumbo
shrimp cocktail, soups, salads side orders homemade desserts like
cheesecake or creme brulee', burgers, hot sandwiches and cold
sandwiches. Among the other items to consume are beers of all kinds,
from Pilsner Urquell to Modello from Mexico and bread from Turano Bakery
Co., which is based on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn across from Oak Park.

Ale House is the work of Michael Pace, who owns and runs La Bella
Pasteria, 109 S. Marion St., and his latest restaurant has been
installed in a building that was gutted by the new owners that village
government attracted last year. The Tuesday opening was the latest in a
long saga for 825 S. Oak Park Ave.

"This is like going downtown without having to go downtown," said John
Eckenroad, president of the Oak Park Development Corporation, which
worked with village hall to bring about the revival of the Blackstone
building.

"This is (bleeping) great," said John Troelstrup, a former village
trustee who was one the village board that started the ultimately
successful effort to revive the Blackstone space.

Nothing was great at the Blackstone building for many years, even before
it closed for good in the 1980s. The former owner showed little interest
in redevelopment, and it wasn't until 1996 that village government,
seeing the building's drag on the area, filed suit under its powers of
eminent domain. That law gives village hall the ability to take
ownership of property--for a price--if a judge deems that village hall
ownership would be better for the community.

Unlike Downtown Oak Park, where village hall had its Tax Increment
Financing (TIF) fund to undertake eminent domain without impact on
property taxes, no such fund exists in the business district near
Southtown Oak Park business district near Oak Park Avenue and the
expressway, so eminent domain for the Blackstone site brought costs to
the village. Officials thought it worth it if they could gain on the
other end by raising the overall business climate at the value of
property in the entire district.

After a Circuit Court judge gave village hall ownership for a $185,000
price, officials worked to finalize a deal for a developer to own and
redevelop the property. That came about in mid-1999. Village hall was
paid $175,000 by the new owners, less than it had paid, but officials
felt confident about the new owners and their ability to produce
benefits to the village in the long run.

The building's owner brought a track record in Oak Park. Dr. Louis B.
Scannicchio has a dental practice in Oak Park but also is a local
developer. Last year, Scannicchio and his partners gained praise and a
Nicholas Award from the Oak Park Development Corporation for their $2.5
million renovation of the former Cicero Gas Building at 115 N. Oak Park
Ave. There has been no immediate estimate for how much it will take to
renovate and expand the former Blackstone, but the high quality wood,
new mechanical systems and the latest in kitchen equipment point to a
substantial investment.

Local officials envision Ale House attracting a crowds not only from Oak
Park and surrounding suburbs but even from the city. It may have been
opening-night optimism, but more than one person could predict people of
all ages coming to Ale House using the easy access from the CTA's
Congress Blue Line and the Eisenhower Expressway a half-block away.

And, the restaurant being in parking-starved Oak Park, Ale House
customers using the automobile option will have a rough time parking
unless they use the $3 valet service offered. Naturally, big crowds'
cars will spill onto the residential streets nearby, which was a concern
expressed by some neighbors who last summer worried about the impact on
the area from the rooftop bar that will open soon at Ale House.

So now, Oak Park has the future of another attraction to watch: 
Ale House and Rooftop Cafe.