Liquor store, Blu Taco restaurant coming to Broadway

Ketankumar and Kamleshkumar Patel’s plan to transform one of Coal City’s vacant buildings into multiple businesses has been given the go ahead from the Village Board.

The plan was submitted to the Planning and Zoning Board back in March and after a series of meetings and public hearings they’ve been given the green light to move forward. The first step will be closing on the sale of 301 S. Broadway.

The Patels intend to open a liquor store and restaurant with on-site liquor consumption and a gaming room. They needed the village to grant them a conditional use permit to obtain a liquor license—a requirement in areas with a downtown commercial zoning classification—and subsequently agree to expand the number of both class C and class B liquor licenses. Trustees voted to grant the license requests.

The class B license is necessary to sale package liquor and that is what will take up the majority of space within the 6,000-square foot commercial building.

About 1/3 of the building will house a BluTaco franchise with on-site liquor sales, thus the need for a class C license. And, since Illinois law allows restaurants with on-site liquor consumption to offer video gaming, the Patels plan to have a room designated for that purpose.

The Patels appeared before the Planning and Zoning Board on multiple occasions to present their petition as well as update the business plan and floor layout.

“There were two concerns submitted by the public who were concerned regarding the petition focused upon the parking for this utilization as well as the aesthetics and waste handling operation,” Village Administrator Matt Fritz, told town trustees at their meeting last week.

Per the zoning code for that area, all public parking is to be shared among the businesses and it was pointed out during one of the hearings that in addition to street side parking, the business is located within close proximity two village owned parking lots.

As for the waste issue, the Patels have agreed to build a code compliant garbage surround and to keep grease utilized within the restaurant in the building until it is removed for disposal off-site.

As previously reported in this newspaper, BluTaco is a chain of eateries featuring Mexican cuisine with a concept and menu similar to the Chipotle chain—burritos, bowls and quesadillas—and with this location the added addition of liquor.

The restaurant is slated to be located on the north side of the building with the gaming room at the back of the business. The packaged liquor sales will be centered in the building with an extensive cooler featuring a beer cave and there will also be a walk-in cigar humidor.

The Patels currently own and operate Subway restaurants in Peotone and Beecher.