As River North's Theme Restaurants Close, Its Basements Are Filling Up

By the third week of October, the doors at 660 N. Wells Street had closure signs on them, and the marquee above was thanking guests. Hooters had served that corner since 1991. NBC Chicago reported the closure on October 21, after 35 years at the address.

Gingie is half a block north at 707 N. Wells. A kitchen fire closed it three days after it opened in March, and it reopened on August 29. National brands built for a single visit are leaving the inland grid. The operators moving in are finding they need more room than they planned, and they keep finding it by going downstairs.

Three Exits on the Same Few Blocks

The fall closures came close together and all sat within a short walk of the Grand and State intersection.

These closures follow two earlier ones. Hard Rock Cafe at 63 W. Ontario served its last meal on March 29, 2025, and Eater Chicago described it as one more tourist-oriented destination leaving downtown. Jaleo at 500 N. Clark closed in January 2025. In its coverage of that closing, Eater reported that the ownership was shifting its focus to hotel and retail partners, and that a Spanish menu once novel in Chicago had become less distinctive.

Crain's reported that Chicago drew nearly 57 million visitors in 2025, up 2.6 percent from the year before, even as the city works to fully regain its pre-pandemic footing. Citywide visitor numbers rose in the same stretch that some of River North's best-known visitor brands moved out.

What Hooters Said on the Way Out

The clearest explanation came from one of the departing companies. A Hooters spokesperson told NBC Chicago:

"Increasing development and neighborhood changes have transformed the area, leading us to the difficult but considered decision to leave this location."

The sale of the building came a year before the restaurant closed. Block Club Chicago reported that 660 N. Wells sold for about $4.1 million in October 2025 to GW Wells LLC, a Florida-based company, according to Cook County records. Block Club also reported that the investor behind that company is linked to ownership of the River North building that houses Chicago Chop House. The company also told NBC that its other Chicago-area locations remain open, including those in Aurora, Schaumburg, Lansing, Countryside and Orland Park. Hooters is leaving this particular corner, and the company has tied that decision to how River North itself has changed.

Two Downstairs Rooms Within Three Months

The businesses opening nearby are adding space in places diners never used to see.

Tarra & Sura opened August 19 at 121 W. Hubbard as two businesses on two levels, according to Eater Chicago. Upstairs, Tarra seats 95 and serves regional Thai cooking from executive chef Namo Chowcharoen, with dishes such as Southern Thai crab curry and braised short rib red curry. Downstairs, Sura is a lounge with velvet seating that builds its cocktails around Thai herbs, fruits and spices. Restaurateur Michael Chen is behind both.

Two blocks away, the same idea came about for a more direct reason. In early October, Block Club Chicago reported that LIA Tavern at 11 W. Illinois was turning an unused space under the restaurant into Tini Bar. The 630-square-foot speakeasy holds 30 people and was scheduled to open by the end of November. Co-owner and chef Justin Vaiciunas told Block Club why he built it:

"We get a lot of walk-ins and because our reservations are so filled up, it's like, what can we do with these guests?"

Guests reach the bar through a sliding door inside LIA and a small red room with a disco ball. Downstairs is a T-shaped, red-tiled bar under an 11-foot red light, with chrome cocktail tables and chartreuse drapes. The design borrows from house parties of the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

Tini Bar is the clearest example of what the closures leave room for. The large chain dining rooms on Wells and Grand were sized for crowds that came once. LIA's basement bar exists because the restaurant upstairs is already full of people it wants to bring back.

Reinvesting on the Same Grid

The other openings this fall, as Eater Chicago's September roundup reported them, point the same way. The operators here are spending more money on River North and showing their own kitchens and bars.

• Gingie, 707 N. Wells. Boka Restaurant Group and chef Brian Lockwood reopened on August 29, about five months after the fire. The reopened menu brought back the spicy tuna dip with nori tapioca chips and the heritage half chicken with sansho pepper. New dishes included tortelloni with Délice de Bourgogne, corn and black truffle, and a lobster-stuffed tomato with Calabrian chile.
• Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, 35 W. Ontario. The Queens-born soup dumpling restaurant opened its first Midwest location in late August. It seats 135 around an open kitchen where cooks fold the dumplings by hand. The Lucky Six sampler ranges from pork and crab to truffle, luffa shrimp and scallop.
• F1 Arcade, 1 W. Grand. The racing venue opened its first Midwest location on August 14, with 61 full-motion simulators in 16,000 square feet. Chicago bartender Julia Momosé, a James Beard Award winner, created two cocktails for this location only. In its preview of the opening, Eater reported that one of them, the Wolf Point, is named for the historic spot where the river's three branches meet.

F1 Arcade is a large concept from a national brand, and it opened a few doors from the corner Sugar Factory left. Even so, its drinks list was written for this city by a local bartender, and the menu includes fries made with Caruso giardiniera. The big-box places still opening here are taking on Chicago details.

Between Now and New Year's

Two more openings are scheduled for the coming weeks. Both are close enough to walk to from Wells or Clark.

1. Tini Bar, 11 W. Illinois. In October, the owners scheduled the downstairs room beneath LIA Tavern to open by the end of November, as Block Club Chicago reported.
2. Cha Chin, 407 N. Clark. This 60-seat Chinese-Peruvian restaurant is on Eater Chicago's list for early December. In October, Crain's described the opening as set for later this year.

Sugar Factory, True Food Kitchen and Hooters were all large rooms built to draw people in from the street. Tini Bar holds 30 guests, and Cha Chin holds 60.

If you own on these blocks and want to understand how this turnover on Wells, Grand and Clark affects your building's place in the market, Mike Larson follows River North one address at a time. Schedule a confidential consultation.