South of the Jewel at Kirk Road and East Main Street, a 22-foot LED screen now hangs over a sports bar that didn't exist last spring. A wood-fired pizza oven runs a few doors down, and a Chicago steakhouse starts taking dinner tables at 3 p.m. each day. These are the first pieces of Fox Haven Square. Its developer describes it as an "open space hospitality-anchored development." For anyone east of the Fox River, it adds up to a place for a night out that doesn't involve crossing the bridge downtown.
As of early October 2026, the district is about half built. Three restaurants are serving and a fourth is close. The biggest attraction, a multi-story social sports venue, is still under construction. Here is what's open, what's coming, and how much weight to put on the opening dates.
What's serving right now
The City of St. Charles lists the project at 200–400 N. Kirk Road. The plan calls for four commercial buildings, shared parking and an outdoor plaza. Three tenants are open:
| Restaurant | Address | What it is | Status, early Oct. 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple EJ's Kitchen & Tap | 300 N. Kirk Road | Scratch kitchen and sports bar with a 22-foot LED screen | Open since May 9 |
| Fire + Wine | 200 N. Kirk Road | Wood-fired pizza, Italian small plates, pasta, wine and cocktails | Open; the restaurant's site says "Now Open" |
| Rosebud Steakhouse | 300 N. Kirk Road, Unit 300 D | USDA Prime steaks plus Italian-American dishes | Open since early September |
Simple EJ's Kitchen & Tap
Simple EJ's opened May 9 as the first tenant at Fox Haven. It comes from restaurateurs Baylis and Jim Heflin, who used to be part of Big Onion Hospitality Group, the team behind Fat Pour and Hopsmith in Chicago. The screen is the selling point. At a Tri-Cities Live panel in April, developer Pat Greco called it the largest TV screen in Illinois outside the DraftKings setup at Wrigley Field. He added, "That'll be the place to go watch a Bears game or any other sporting events." With football season underway, Sundays at Kirk and Main have a clear new option.
Fire + Wine
Fire + Wine is the third suburban location for the brand. The menu centers on wood-fired pizzas, Italian tapas-style shared plates and pastas, plus a curated wine list and craft cocktails. Owner Brian Goewey of BG Hospitality Group is partnering with Eugenio Aliminodi on this restaurant. It suits the kind of dinner where the table orders several things and shares them, which sets it apart from the steakhouse next door.
Rosebud Steakhouse
Rosebud also runs locations in Chicago, northwest Indiana and Dallas. The St. Charles restaurant opened the first week of September, according to a local newsletter dated Sept. 3. The menu pairs USDA Prime Linz Heritage Angus steaks with Italian-American favorites, pasta, seafood and salads. Hours posted on the restaurant's St. Charles page:
- Sunday through Thursday, 3 to 10 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday, 3 to 11 p.m.
Rosebud doesn't serve lunch. It's a dinner reservation, and on weekends the late close gives some room for a second stop.
Just around the corner, Cooper's Hawk is close enough that Tri-Cities Central's Dinner Club counted it with the Fox Haven restaurants for a Sept. 24 locals' night out. That means four sit-down dinner options sit within a short walk of each other on the east side.
Why the dates keep slipping
Most openings at Fox Haven so far have landed later than first announced. That history is the most useful tool for planning around the second wave.
- Fire + Wine was expected in January 2026, according to a Shaw Local report from November 2025. By April, the developer's timeline had moved its opening to the first week of May.
- Rosebud Steakhouse was aiming for July as of April. An August item in Glancer Magazine still called it "Coming Soon." It opened in early September.
- The whole development was billed by the city's economic development office in January as set to open in spring 2026. Simple EJ's met that window. Most of the rest did not.
None of this is unusual for a new multi-tenant project. Restaurants open when their build-out, inspections and staffing are all ready, and those rarely line up with a press release. As of Sept. 15, Patch reported that Simple EJ's, Fire + Wine and Rosebud had temporary certificates of occupancy. The same report said the city had given no specific opening dates for the other businesses and no completion date for the development as a whole. Read every date below as a target.
What's still coming
Lou Malnati's, 3050 E. Main St.
Lou Malnati's is the closest to opening. A Sept. 16 Patch report said the 6,200-square-foot pizzeria was targeting late October, without an official opening date from the company. Greco had said in April that it was expected by the end of 2026. Given the track record above, a slide into November wouldn't be surprising. If you're counting on deep dish for a Halloween weekend, check the restaurant's own announcements first.
The social sports venue at 100 N. Kirk Road
This is the largest piece still under construction, and the reports describe it in different ways. Patch and the city call it Match Haus, also known as Harbor House, and describe a pickleball, sports, dining and entertainment venue. The building permit has been issued and construction is underway. A 2025 Kane County Chronicle report described a three-story venue run by Parker Hospitality with six indoor pickleball courts, three padel courts, duckpin bowling, ping-pong and darts. In April, Greco talked about "Match House" as a 20,000-square-foot restaurant and cafe from Brad Parker Hospitality, the group behind Hampton Social. In the same talk he mentioned a pickleball venue, and both were projected for around the end of the year.
It's unclear whether this is one building or two, but the outline is consistent across sources. A Parker Hospitality project at the north end of the site will combine courts, games and food. The last projection was year-end 2026, and the city gave no date as of mid-September. That spring 2026 opening mentioned in 2025 is long past.
Announced tenants without opening dates
The city and the developer have named several more businesses. None of these is confirmed open yet:
- Swank Coffee & Wine Lounge, a European-style cafe and wine bar from the Fulla Beans restaurant group
- Taco Mucho
- Glow Lagree, a Pilates concept from California
- OS Salon, a full-service hair and makeup business
Greco also said a high-end sports memorabilia store, a Hand & Stone location and a yoga studio were in various stages of discussion. None of those was confirmed. In April he said the project was roughly 80% leased and could be fully leased by year's end.
That tenant mix tells you what the finished square is meant to be. A coffee-and-wine cafe, a taqueria, a Pilates studio and a salon bring in daytime traffic that a steakhouse opening at 3 p.m. can't. Greco said the vision was to offer "complimentary uses like fitness, retail, shopping, and obviously food and beverage and entertainment." Right now Fox Haven is mostly an evening place. Once the cafe and fitness tenants open, it starts to work as an all-day one.
Who is building it
The city names Bartlett-based Greco Investment Management LLC as the developer of the $22 million project. G Ninety Family Office, connected to the Greco family, also appears on the city's tenant list. Greco has called it a family-driven project. The size depends on who you ask. The city and Patch say seven acres, and Greco described eight. The City Council approved it as a planned unit development, and the site permit covers retail, restaurants and a pickleball facility.
A second plaza, a different job
St. Charles already has a downtown gathering space. First Street Plaza, a $6.4 million project finished in 2025, added an open-air plaza, a solar-panel trellis and decorative walkways linking downtown dining and shopping. Fox Haven's outdoor plaza gives the Kirk Road corridor a version of the same idea, built around shared parking at a major intersection instead of the riverfront.
Next weekend shows the difference. The 41st Scarecrow Weekend fills downtown Oct. 9–11, running noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Organizers promise more than 120 scarecrows, live music, the Autumn on the Fox craft show at Pottawatomie Park, Jurassic Park replica vehicles, Pumpkin Butcher carving demonstrations and free Colonial Ice Cream scoops at set times. Patch's preview adds the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Ghostbusters appearances and free live music at First Street Plaza.
Festival hours end at 6 p.m., and Rosebud's dining room has been open since 3. An afternoon of scarecrows downtown and dinner on Kirk Road after the crowds thin out is now an easy plan. That's especially true for anyone who lives east of the river and would rather not hunt for downtown parking twice. On Oct. 10 and 11, the Arcada Theatre's W.A.S.P./KK's Priest shows give downtown its own nighttime draw.
Here's the short version for the rest of October. Simple EJ's, Fire + Wine and Rosebud are open. Lou Malnati's is close but unconfirmed. The courts at 100 N. Kirk Road were last projected for the end of 2026, and the city had no opening date as of mid-September.
At Executive Realty Group, our St. Charles office follows what's opening along Kirk Road and downtown because those places shape daily life for our neighbors. If you want to talk about how new places like Fox Haven are changing the east side of town, or you just want a dinner recommendation before Scarecrow Weekend, contact us. We're happy to chat, with no pressure.
