"What we thought would take 1-3 business days, will in fact take 3 to 8 business weeks."
Heather Henkel and Eric Lamkins wrote that on September 30 in an update posted to the Spent Grain Brewpub website. The line explains why the brewery at 17 N. Vail Ave. now says "Opening Early 2027" when Arlington Heights expected it this fall.
The brewery is one of three big changes headed for the block around Harmony Park, at Vail and Campbell. Hey Nonny, at 10 S. Vail Ave., is for sale. The Village's Vail Avenue Promenade plan would rebuild the street itself. None of the three has a date before New Year's. The holidays will run on what's already there, including a Hey Nonny that is reworking its rooms in the meantime.
A brewery that's built but can't brew yet
On September 23, the Daily Herald reported that Spent Grain Brewing would pour its first beer from a tent at Harmony Fest on October 2 and 3. The paper said the brewpub would open for drinks, lunch and dinner in late October or early November. That timeline came from Bob Holland, the attorney for the husband-and-wife owners.
A week later, the owners posted their own update with a different order of events:
- The Village approved the brewpub's local liquor license while the owners were out of town.
- They applied for a state Special Event license to appear at Harmony Fest. Their state brewer's license complicated that application, and the Special Event license was not granted.
- They learned they can't start brewing until the state liquor license comes through. They had expected that to take a few business days. It will take 3 to 8 business weeks.
- Even with the fastest approval, they would have no beer to serve until mid-December. They chose not to open during the holiday rush and moved the opening to early 2027.
The owners also wrote that they had hoped to be open by this past April. The space was the Bangkok Cafe, and the plans are set. It will be a 2,500-square-foot nano brewery with 16 taps. Every beer will be brewed on site in single-barrel, 30-gallon batches. There will be 61 seats, split among 30 at dining tables, 14 at the bar, 10 on couches and seven in lounge chairs. It will be 21 and over. ComEd brought in the added electrical service for the brewing equipment in early September.
What's left is the state license, then several weeks of brewing.
Hey Nonny is changing its rooms before it changes owners
A few doors south, Hey Nonny is in a similar spot. Chip Brooks and Chris Dungan opened the listening room on October 18, 2018. On October 2, the Daily Herald reported that they have put the business up for sale. The sale also includes the 4,000-square-foot first-floor space, which is technically a condominium inside the Metropolis Ballroom building. Kudan Group is handling the sale. The firm has handled deals for other Chicago-area music venues, including FitzGerald's, the Hideout and The Green Mill.
The space could hold other uses, but the owners have said they hope to find a buyer who keeps it as a live-music venue. Until then, they're changing how it works:
- The Venue is the new name for the 150-person listening room, where ticketed shows continue.
- The Lounge replaces what had been a 66-seat gastropub. A 24-foot-wide retractable acoustic wall separates it from The Venue. It now has its own stage and shows five nights a week, some free and some with a $5 cover.
- The menu has dropped farm-to-table bistro dishes for barbecue. You can order à la carte by QR code in either room. Hey Nonny calls the barbecue menu NonnyQ.
The Lounge's Social Sessions series started in early October. Its show calendar runs through November and December, with holiday shows by Dan Rodriguez starting December 3. Bookings go into spring 2027. "Finding the right next owner is a process, and we're approaching it thoughtfully," Brooks said in the release the Daily Herald quoted.
A new owner is the change with no date. Booking shows five nights a week and into spring 2027 means a sale doesn't have to happen quickly.
The street rebuild is still in engineering
The biggest change for the block is the street. The Village's Vail Avenue Promenade would turn part of Vail Avenue and Campbell Street into a curbless, pedestrian-first space. The plan includes permeable pavers, a landscaped boulevard along Vail, and removable bollards so the street can close quickly for events. It also adds shade structures, seat walls, play areas built from boulders, and a string-light canopy over Harmony Park. The fountain stays where it is.
The project began with Arlington Alfresco. The Village first closed parts of Vail and Campbell in spring 2020 to make room for outdoor dining, and the closures stuck. By the Village's count, the street hosts Alfresco five months a year, Sounds of Summer twelve nights a year and Harmony Fest two nights a year. Through the winter, it is a regular street. The redesign aims to make the space usable year-round.
Here is the funding the Village has lined up so far:
| Source | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program, run by IDOT | $2.9 million | Requires a 20% local match |
| State funds from Rep. Nicolle Grasse's office | $450,000 | Awarded August 2025 |
| Village Capital Improvement Program | $250,000 | For final engineering |
| Estimated total project cost | About $4.4 million | Includes engineering; will be refined in Phase Two |
The three sources add up to $3.6 million. That's about $800,000 short of the estimate, and the Village says it is still looking for more state and regional funding. When trustees reviewed the design in August 2025, the Daily Herald reported that they liked the concept but questioned its cost and the possible funding gap. The schedule at the time pointed to construction starting in 2027, and board feedback could push that later.
The Village held a public meeting on the concept on March 12, and comments were due April 3. Its current timeline says preliminary engineering will finish in 2026, when final engineering will begin. The project page doesn't set a construction start date. For now, the 2027 start is still the projection reported in August 2025.
So this holiday season runs on the block as it is
With none of those three changes scheduled before New Year's, this season's calendar falls to the anchors already in place. Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, at 111 W. Campbell St., is around the corner from Hey Nonny and shares the building's name. The Village's tree lighting runs through Harmony Park, and Arlington Heights Park District events run alongside both.
- October 30–31: The Rock N' Horror Halloween Concert at Metropolis.
- November 5–7: The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, followed by Myths and Mayhem on November 8.
- November 7, 9 a.m. to noon: The Park District's free Pumpkin Smash at Frontier Park, where you can drop off pumpkins and gourds for composting.
- November 24 through January 3: The Christmas Schooner on the Metropolis Main Stage.
- November 27: The tree lighting at Harmony Park and North School Park. Trolleys loop between the two parks from 3:45 to 6:45 p.m., with Dickens-era characters on board telling stories about Arlington Heights' past.
- December 3–19: A shortened A Christmas Carol in the Metropolis Family Series.
- December 7–8: The 12 Dames of Christmas.
- December 13, 20 and 24: The full-length A Christmas Carol on the Main Stage.
At the tree lighting, the Harmony Park trolley stop is south of Vail and Campbell, near the Harmony Park Tree. The North School Park stop is at the southwest corner of Eastman and Evergreen. The Village is also running a wheelchair-accessible holiday bus between the parks during the same hours. If you'd like to arrange it ahead of time, email [email protected] before noon on Tuesday, November 24. The Village warns that the garage at Eastman and Evergreen can fill up that night. It suggests the underground lot on Evergreen and nearby lots that offer free parking, and its event page links to a parking map. For full disclosure, Holly Connors, Get Burbed, @properties is one of the 2026 Special Events Commission sponsors listed on that page.
The Spent Grain owners still have some downtown work this season. On Harmony Fest weekend, their update said they would be scooping ice cream. Holland told the Daily Herald that Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jon Ridler was at Village Hall with him to get the liquor license. The owners say the brewpub will open in early 2027.
If you own a home near Vail Avenue and wonder how a new brewpub, a change of ownership at Hey Nonny, or a curbless Promenade might affect the value of your block, that's the kind of local detail we track for every pricing conversation. GetBurbed can walk you through it with a free home valuation built on what's actually happening downtown.
