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Elgin restaurant closes, then gets emergency grant; plans for future unclear

The former Dog's Paw Brewing restaurant in Elgin was closed when it received a state's hospitality emergency grant in April, and its plans to reopen elsewhere are unclear.

Restaurant owner Iran Garcia said last year that the restaurant at 74 S. Grove Ave. was going to close at the end of April with plans to reopen in Hoffman Estates.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dog's Paw was open for curbside pickup, but then announced its closure March 21 on Facebook and Twitter. Five days later, Garcia applied for the emergency grant and won $10,000 via the grant's lottery in April, according to documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.

In his application, Garcia said the restaurant had five employees, including him, and he intended to use the money for "working capital."

Lauren Huffman, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, did not directly answer a question about whether Dog's Paw applying for the grant after the business closed was in accordance with the requirements of the grant.

"All grantees are required to spend the funds received exclusively on either working capital," defined as compensation, including salaries, wages, tips, paid leave, and group health care benefits, accounts payable, rent, and other fixed costs of operation, "or technology and training. However the grant does not impose requirements on businesses' operations beyond that. Those are business decisions made by the proprietor."

"The goal of this program is to help our state's small businesses with the greatest needs receive essential capital funds so that their operations and workers can succeed in spite of the losses faced due to COVID-19," she said.

Garcia did not reply to repeated requests for comments this month about the status of his previous plan to move Dog's Paw to 2601 Pratum Ave. in Hoffman Estates. That building belongs to WT Group, whose Chief Operating Officer Troy Triphahn did not return requests for comment. Hoffman Estates Director of Development Services Peter Gugliotta said no site plan or zoning process has started.

Dog's Paw's landlord in Elgin, Ben Glunz, said the restaurant is "definitely" closed and is moving out items ahead of the lease running out in June. Glunz said he doesn't know what Garcia's future plans are. "I wish them the best," Glunz said, adding he's looking at possibilities for a new business tenant.

Following inquiries by the Daily Herald, Dog's Paw changed its March 21 Facebook post regarding the closure.

The initial post stated, "We have made the decision to close. We have to think of the health of our staff, family, and customers. We appreciate your support throughout the years. We will evaluate things and decide our course of action at a later date. Thank you all for supporting us, and may God bless you all!"

Sometime between Thursday and Friday, the first two sentences were removed and substituted with, "We will close temporarily until we move in to our new location. Certain restrictions have affected our plans to build out this location. We have to be able to run at full capacity to offset remodeling costs."

Accion in Illinois & Northwest Indiana, a certified community development financial institution, was asked by the state of Illinois to serve as fiscal agent for the hospitality emergency grants totaling $14 million.

Huffman said, "Accion will undergo an audit given the amount of funds it's been charged with deploying for DCEO COVID-19 relief initiatives; however sub-recipients (like Dog's Paw Brewing) do not undergo an audit."

This was the initial March 21 post by Dog's Paw Brewing in Elgin about its closure. Following inquiries by the Daily Herald, the restaurant modified the post sometime between Thursday and Friday.
This is the current wording of Dog's Paw Brewing post about its closure. Following inquiries by the Daily Herald, the restaurant modified the post sometime between Thursday and Friday.
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