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David Burke's Grillhouse moving into former Entourage

The former Entourage restaurant just west of Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg will soon house celebrity chef David Burke's Grillhouse.

Chris Cubberley, a representative at the restaurant Thursday, said a late summer opening is anticipated.

Despite the involvement of Burke in both enterprises, Cubberley said the Schaumburg restaurant would be an independent operation from David Burke's Primehouse in The James Hotel at the corner of Rush and Ontario streets in downtown Chicago.

The 22,000-square-foot Entourage at 1301 American Lane closed in August 2010, after a 4½-year struggle during the economic recession.

But according to its management at the time, the original owners' intention in constructing such an opulent building was to buck the area's trend of chain eateries by providing an upscale, independent restaurant of the type found in Chicago.

But those high ideals left Schaumburg officials with a heavy task in trying to find a new tenant for the expensive building while the economy was still in a state of slow recovery.

Schaumburg Economic Development Manager Matt Frank said the challenge could be likened to that of finding a new tenant a few years ago for the massive space of the former Great Indoors store on Golf Road. But, if anything, finding tenants for a retail space along a major road that could be divided up was simple compared to finding a fit for the Entourage building about a block away from Meacham Road, Frank said.

Though the village has been in regular contact with the backers of David Burke's Grillhouse, and the recent appearance of the sign out front of the building is good news, a formal application for the restaurant's special use permit has not yet been received, Frank said. But he was told to expect the paperwork by the end of this week.

Such applications take about six weeks to process and approve, which would tie in with the late summer opening Cubberley indicated Thursday, Frank said.

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