‘Felt Like Home’: Iconic Nite N’ Gale set for demolition — but it could come back

After more than 70 years in operation as a staple of downtown Highwood, the Nite N’ Gale restaurant closed its doors for good last week and will soon be demolished to make way for a new six-story mixed-use residential building.

Marc Facchini, assistant city manager of Highwood, said city staff issued demolition and building permits this year to a private developer that purchased the restaurant property located at 346 Sheridan Road and construction should begin in two to three weeks. 

That developer, identified as Moyer Properties, submitted site plans for a six-story building with 105 residential units, 134 parking spaces and approximately 6,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor, Highwood City Manager Scot Coren said. 

Greg Moyer, who founded the Chicago-based real estate firm, said he “hopes” to reopen a version of the Nite N’ Gale in the first floor of the new building 18-24 months.

Moyer acknowledged he’s a real estate developer, not a restaurateur, and it will be impossible to recreate a decades-old establishment. But granted he can find an operator and staff, he aims to open the Nite N’ Gale again as a family restaurant with an outdoor patio and “similar vibe.”

“It’s important to the community and it’s obviously been successful over those years and we hope to bring it back and make it more successful than ever with a refreshed look and refreshed menu,” Moyer said of the Nite N’ Gale.

Moyer said he discussed purchasing the Nite N’ Gale property from the Fiocchi family, which had owned and operated the Nite N’ Gale since 1947, with three different brokers over the course of four to five years before the two parties finally made a deal last year.

Moyer Properties then submitted city permit requests in May 2024, Coren said. Moyer Properties extended the operations of the restaurant for 13 months to allow for employees to find other employment, Moyer said.

The restaurant closed on Sept. 28. 

Located in the center of downtown Highwood, Moyer said it was a “cold hard fact” the property was worth a lot more as a residential development than as a restaurant.

He added that he is in serious discussions with several restaurant groups about the potential to open a second, different restaurant in the building’s first floor.

But the project’s main purpose is its 105 luxury residential units, Moyer said.

The all-brick building, slated to be one of the largest residential developments in the city, will have a variety of amenities like a fitness center, golf simulator, co-working space and lounge deck on its second floor about the restaurant space.

“Nite N’ Gale was more than a Highwood restaurant. It was a gathering place for connection and conversation. It will be missed not only for its food and drinks, but also for its deep roots and long-standing presence in the city,” said Jennifur Condon, director of the Highwood Chamber of Commerce.

One social media post in a Highwood Facebook group addressing the Nite N’ Gale’s closure drew nearly 250 comments, many from individuals recalling memories of first dates, wedding anniversaries, birthday parties, celebrations of life and favorite menu items, such as Marvin’s Shrimp. 

Jessica Douglas said she started regularly eating at the Nite N’ Gale from a young age, because it was the favorite restaurant of her aunt Mindi Silas. 

Entering the Nite N’ Gale felt like walking into a “time warp,” Douglas said, with its dark maroon booths and wooden bar stools. While the ribs were her aunt’s go-to order, Douglas loved ordering the Moneybags Pasta, a specialty dish of cheese-stuffed noodles she can’t find anywhere else. 

“What made it unique was the fact that it stayed the same over the years,” Douglas said. “It looked the same, they had a lot of the same people that had been working there, they didn’t have a whole lot of turnover, the food was always consistent and delicious.”

“You just knew that you were going to go there and you would have a good time,” Douglas added. “The drinks were reasonably priced and you never left hungry and it always just kind of felt like home.”

After Douglas’ aunt recovered from cancer, the Nite N’ Gale was the first place she wanted to go eat. It was also where they had a meal together a month before Silas died, a memory Douglas honors by eating from the Nite N’ Gale on her aunt’s birthday or the anniversary of her death every year. 

Now that the restaurant has closed, Douglas said she’ll miss being able to continue on that tradition. 

Likewise, Douglas will miss her usual monthly dinners there with her girlfriends, the opportunities to introduce the restaurant to new people, and how intimate moments with loved ones at the Nite N’ Gale was something you could pass down through generations. 

Case in point: Douglas’s 8-year-old daughter was upset to hear the Nite N’ Gale was closing. Her favorite menu item was the Moneybags.

“It was definitely a tradition that passed on. My family went there, I started bringing my friends and their kids and my own daughter, so I’m just going to miss not being able to just keep having those connections at a family owned restaurant in town,” Douglas said. “There’s really not many of those left here.”

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