Former Ravinia BBQ space to get new tenant years later

A property that used to house a local Highland Park favorite will soon get new life.

Highland Park’s City Council approved during its Monday, March 10 meeting a special-use permit request that will allow an animal hospital to make a beeline for the corner of Roger Williams and Pleasant avenues.

The project site, located at 592-594 Roger Williams and 697-701 Pleasant, was previously occupied by the popular restaurant Ravinia BBQ and Grill. The eatery, which was a community favorite for three decades, closed in the winter of 2015.

According to information from the city, the property has been vacant since approximately 2017.

Project details say the proposed animal clinic will be roughly 1,700 square feet. It will occupy the front part of the building, city documents say.

The project’s applicant, Dr. Jeffery Kordell, told city officials last year that the proposed hours of operations to begin are 9 a.m.-5p.m. Monday-Saturday. In application materials submitted to the city, Kordell said the new clinic in Highland Park will supplement his existing clinic located in neighboring Highwood.

No overnight boarding and care or service of animals will occur during the overnight hours on the property, per the applicant.

While the board did unanimously support the proposal, some members of the council believe the approval represents a “missed opportunity.”

Councilmember Andrés Tapia said he was troubled by how the process for filling the space played out, noting that he felt there’s a “collective gap” in officials being “more planful about the use of commercial space on Roger Williams.”

Tapia expressed particular dismay given that the location is one of the few spaces in the area built out with many of the necessary requirements and infrastructure for a restaurant use.

“There’s going to be a benefit to having an animal hospital there but for it to take a space that was built for a restaurant … I think it shows a gap in thinking comprehensively from an urban planning perspective for the entire thing,” he said.

Tapia also noted a previous proposal for the space called for a yoga studio, and that proposal, for several reasons, did not come to fruition.

“We turned down a yoga (studio), we missed out on a restaurant space that was kind of ready to go and we’re bringing an animal hospital in — it just feels disjointed and not cohesive,” Tapia said, later adding that he hopes the city can think “about things more strategically when it comes to our planning.”

Highland Park’s City Council in June of last year did approve the use of an animal hospital or clinic as conditional use in the zoning district of the subject property, per city documents. A yoga studio is not a use that is permitted in that zoning district, officials said.

Councilmember Anthony Blumberg said he did not believe it was an “equal comparison” to equate this applicant to the yoga studio proposal, adding that this particular use was considered when officials changed the permitted uses in the district.

Board member Annette Lidawer said she was “very comfortable in accepting” the proposal because of how well vetted the details were at the committee level.

Although she noted she was “very happy to have a tenant coming in,” Lidawer did also add a similar sentiment to Tapia, saying it was “somewhat wasteful in terms of the planning of it.”

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