Glencoe's Next Year-Round Restaurant Is Opening at the Golf Course, Not Downtown

"Obviously nobody loves the fact that we're paying more money and it's getting delayed by a couple weeks," Village President Howard Roin said at the Aug. 19 Village Board meeting. Moments later, trustees approved the contract for the business that will run the dining room.

That dining room has a name now. It's The Westley, and it sits inside the new clubhouse at the Glencoe Golf Club, 621 Westley Road. The club's site describes it as a brand-new clubhouse and restaurant that will be open year-round, and the most recent wording there is still "Opening This Fall." No public opening date has been announced. Most Glencoe restaurant openings are private businesses taking over a storefront. The Westley is different. It will operate on village-owned land, and its contract ties part of the Village's income to the restaurant's sales.

What 621 Westley Road Is Getting

Voters approved the clubhouse project in a 2023 referendum. Back then, The Record North Shore reported that the original building had passed its useful life in 2012 and was being replaced because conditions were getting worse and repair costs kept rising. The old clubhouse was torn down in May 2025.

According to the Village's construction listing, the new building includes:

• A 150-seat restaurant and event space that will operate year-round
• A bar
• A covered terrace facing west
• Two simulators for lessons, leagues and practice
• A full-service pro shop

The Village says everything in the clubhouse will be open to the public year-round. The club's project page says the simulators can be used for golf, baseball and other sports. It also mentions winter recreation areas on the grounds, though no winter schedule has been published. The homepage is already taking inquiries for celebrations, corporate events and simulator room rentals. Pricing and details are listed as coming soon. The club describes the building's design as "timeless Prairie Style architecture" with modern amenities.

The 150 seats and the year-round schedule matter more than the golf features. A golf clubhouse that runs from spring to fall is a seasonal amenity. A 150-seat dining room that stays open in January works more like a public restaurant.

The Kitchen Is Already Running

The operator isn't new to Glencoe. The Village's contract is with Clubhouse Group, which also does business as Housepitality Group. The same owners run Grill House and Cabo Grill in Northbrook and Backyard Grill in Highland Park. In March, The Record North Shore named the owner as Nick Drivas.

Glencoe Golf Club general manager Stella Nanos told trustees that Clubhouse Group has handled interim food service at the club since March, "to ensure uninterrupted food services during construction." That means the Village chose its long-term operator after watching it work on site for about five months.

No menu for The Westley has been published. Nanos described the plan this way:

"This partnership is designed to offer robust year-round hospitality, including our full-service restaurant and bar, which will be offering a variety of delicious brunch, lunch and dinner menus, an extensive wine and cocktail list, variety of meal options, and children's menus."

The club itself says the restaurant will offer upscale dining, casual family meals and quick food for golfers. Grill House in Northbrook describes its cooking as Greek, with homemade meals, grilled foods and salads. That gives a sense of the operator's style, but The Westley hasn't announced its cuisine.

How the Village Gets Paid

The contract terms are where The Westley differs most from a downtown storefront. Trustees approved a five-year agreement with options for two more five-year renewals.

Clubhouse Group will also collect the local food and beverage tax and pass it on to the Village.

These terms explain why the clubhouse was planned for winter use and events. Only the base fee is fixed. Everything else grows with sales, and catering and private events pay the Village the highest percentage. Room rental fees go entirely to the Village. Nanos said the operator will also provide an on-site special event manager for private celebrations, community gatherings and Village-sponsored events. A full dining room in February, or a booked event room in March, adds to Village revenue in a way a seasonal golf snack bar couldn't.

Why "Fall" Is Still the Only Date

The schedule has slipped more than once. Public Works Director Monica Sarna told trustees the clubhouse was first due for completion on Aug. 14. That moved back two weeks, and then the sixth change order since March 2025 set a new date of Sept. 11. Sept. 11 was a target for "substantial" completion. It was never announced as an opening day for diners.

Sarna gave several reasons. A very wet summer held up exterior work. Crews also found an "unknown underground storage tank," and removing it threw off the contractor's schedule. The latest change order added $99,935 for owner-requested items, including technology infrastructure, converting a walk-in freezer to a refrigerator, and power supply and parking lot additions. It also covered items Cook County required after an inspection, such as additional lighting and a revised detention pond. With that change, W.B. Olson's construction contract now totals $15.7 million.

Three cost figures for the project are in circulation, and each covers a different scope:

1. $18 million is the overall project voters approved in 2023. The Record North Shore reports that about $15 million of it comes from taxpayers.
2. $15.7 million is the construction contract with W.B. Olson, after six change orders.
3. $13.46 million is the "total project cost" shown on the Village's current construction page.

None of the published sources explains how these three numbers fit together.

The Village's construction page also lists Fall 2026 as the completion date. An earlier Village bulletin had predicted an opening in "late 2025 / early 2026." As of the first week of October, the club's restaurant page still says "Coming Fall 2026."

Downtown Already Finished Its Own Reset

The clubhouse will open into a downtown restaurant scene that changed a lot over the past year and a half. Merlo's, the Italian restaurant at 667 Vernon Ave., closed in April 2025. Meg's Cafe and Apple A Day Catering left 317 Park Ave. on May 31, 2025. New businesses arrived quickly:

• Picnic opened its Glencoe location in May 2025.
• Mensch's Deli opened at 668 Vernon Ave. in late June 2025 and still takes pickup orders at that address.
• Elyon was announced as a Mediterranean restaurant serving Greek, Italian and Turkish food in the former Merlo's space. It now takes reservations at 667 Vernon.
• RDK Sushi was planned for Meg's old space at 317 Park. A diner review shows it was serving dinner by mid-April 2026, and it's taking reservations now.

Retail is filling in as well. Chicago menswear shop Ford General opened its second location at 342 Tudor Court and held a ribbon cutting on Aug. 13. Downtown's most recent disruption was brief. A vehicle struck Hometown Coffee & Juice at 700 Vernon on Sept. 22. The owner planned to reopen the next day, and a village inspector cleared the building for normal operation.

The streetscape is the open question downtown. In June, the Village Board adopted a Streetscape + Parking Study for the business district. It dropped the idea of adding on-street parking in surrounding residential areas, and any implementation still depends on more board discussion and community input. So downtown's restaurant spaces are filled, while the streets around them are still in the planning stage. The Westley is a different case: a new 150-seat room operated under a Village contract.

October in Glencoe While the Clubhouse Finishes

Until The Westley opens, the fall calendar is mostly in the usual places:

• Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road. Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns runs Oct. 7–11, 14–18 and 21–25, from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.
• Writers Theatre. Sisters runs through Nov. 8, and The Royale opens Oct. 22 and runs through Nov. 29.
• Glencoe Park District. Campfire Stories for Kids is Oct. 9 at 6 p.m., and Movies on the Green is Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. Gardening at the Greenhouse: Gardening with Bulbs is Oct. 17 at 10 a.m., and Boo Bash After Dark is Oct. 30 at 6 p.m.
• Halloween Hello, downtown. On Friday, Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Village hosts business trick-or-treating, "Village Hall-oween," and the Historical Society's "Ghosts of the Garden." The Village recommends 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 for trick-or-treating in residential neighborhoods.

If you're going to Village Hall this fall, use the north entrance. Repairs to the south entry and drainage began in September and are scheduled to finish by the end of the year, and the Hazel Avenue sidewalk may close at times during the work.

Glencoe is about to have a new year-round public restaurant, and new places like this can change how a village spends its evenings and weekends. If you're thinking about what that means for your own home, Cornelia Matache offers a calm, no-pressure conversation and a complimentary home valuation whenever you're ready.