Delays overcome, pub-style HopScotch restaurant plans June groundbreaking in Schaumburg
Approved 14 months ago, HopScotch restaurant has received the financial security bond it needs to apply for a building permit and start construction on the last undeveloped site in Schaumburg’s Town Square.
Developer Dipak Lodhia said his goal is to break ground on the 1.7-acre lot at 40 S. Roselle Road, next to Oberweis, by the end of June and open about a year later.
The restaurant will feature a combination of British-, Indian- and American-style pub fare.
“I think everyone will be very excited and pleased when this is open,” Lodhia said.
The primary reason for the project’s delay, he said, was his getting locked into a 9-month process with a bank that went nowhere before he had the opportunity to move on to a different bank.
If not for that, HopScotch would be nearly finished, if it not already open, he added.
Lodhia is developing the restaurant in partnership with Subbu Iyer.
Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said the village’s original agreement with Lodhia gave the project a September 2024 deadline, but now will have to be adapted to a more realistic time frame.
The security bond approved for the business Tuesday provides a financial guarantee to the village that improvements for the project will move forward once started, Frank said.
Schaumburg sold the lot to Lodhia for $225,000, nearly three decades after the village acquired the entire southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads for the development of Town Square.
Lodhia previously created the restaurant brands Porto's Peri Peri and Vasco's Peri Peri, which later were bought by investors. He said he plans to keep HopScotch for himself.
His vision is for a pub-themed restaurant reminiscent of his native London, but with a more diverse range of dishes.
Among the menu items that have been suggested are chicken and mushroom pies, vegetarian pies, Cornish pasties, beans on toast, samosas, lamb keema, chicken curry, Chana masala, sliders, wings, jumbo shrimp, hummus, mac and cheese bites, falafel, hummus and a sweet shop.
While the food offerings are meant to be eclectic, the restaurant's name is a reference to the alcoholic beverages — including “hops” and scotch — in which it plans to specialize.
The design of the two-story restaurant with a 6,342-square-foot footprint includes outdoor patio space on both levels.
Following last year’s opening of Tony's Fresh Market in the long-vacant former Dominick's building nearby, Schaumburg officials have viewed HopScotch as a critical part of a Town Square renaissance.
When the project was proposed in 2022, the village projected it would receive about $120,000 annually in food, beverage and sales taxes from HopScotch.