By: Deborah Johnson Wood
A family of restaurateurs who oversee
11 restaurant operations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
Mississippi are planning to bring their expertise to downtown Rockford.
The Marco Cuellar family, who operate El Burrito Loco restaurants, has
begun development of a new eatery dubbed Cinco de Mayo in Rockford's
first LEED-certified structure -- a 4,800-square-foot building at 123 Courtland.
The building, completed last year, replaces a building that burned down some 18 months ago.
"I
think they're starting to think that the smaller communities are a good
market for them because those communities don't have the restaurant
choices of a larger city," says Diane Karns, spokesperson for the
company. Karns is a real estate broker with
Prudential Callander Commercial.
"Rockford is a cute town and there's a
lot of loyalty from customers there. I looked at other locations and
thought this would be good for the restaurant. It's a cool looking
building and it's on one of the main streets where there will be
pedestrian traffic."
The restaurant is a sister development to another new Cinco de Mayo, due to open this fall in downtown Grand Rapids.
Cuellar
plans dining on both floors and an outdoor dining area. Karns says the
artist who paints Mexican murals for each of Cuellar's restaurants will
bring a Mexican motif to the interior.
Next Monday, the city of Rockford will
vote on a proposed Class C liquor license for the enterprise. The
restaurant opens this fall.
"This is a unique building," Karns says, "and I just think the restaurant will be fun for downtown Rockford."
Source: Diane Karns, CCIM, Prudential Callander Commercial; Suzette Garvey, Simply Genuine Communications
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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