After 10 long years of running SAAGE, 2 major remodeling projects at our two locations, and hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into leased spaces, we decided to invest our hard-earned money into a space of our own. Somewhere we can finally settle down and continue our services to our food business community. So in 2022, we started looking high and low for our final home, hunting properties everywhere, from Plainfield and Bolingbrook, up to Warrenville and Carol Stream. After much deliberation and evaluation about our goals, our finances, property costs and conditions, we found and fell in love with a cute space in downtown Aurora. The purchase contract was signed and a deposit was put down in February’24, then came a whirlwind of tasks working with the SBA lender, architect/engineer, a whole new team of Kane county health inspectors and city of Aurora officials (we were always DuPage and Naperville!), design consultants, and contractors.

 

We were finally assigned a closing date in May’24; then, just 2 days before closing, our attorney gave us some bad news. Basically the property was not recorded correctly during a previous sale, so technically, two owners had claim to a portion of the space, meaning we couldn’t close until it was correctly recorded. This was so unique and absurd that even our attorney couldn’t believe it, and he told us it could take a few months to resolve! We were absolutely devastated. Our careful planning all went down the drain, and to add to our stress, our Brookdale Rd lease was almost ending... It took them 4 months to finish correcting the issue, including redoing the property survey, getting approvals from the building HOA and attorney, and finally recording the correct documents at the county office. But that’s not all! The next piece of bad news came from our SBA lender, who told us our loan approval expired because of the 4-month delay, so we would need to go through a reapproval process. Usually this would have been a quicker process than the first approval, but then the final piece of bad news arrived from our contractor. He sent us a higher construction estimate in order to cover price hikes due to tariffs on materials, which meant our loan amount also had to increase by about 30%. Our loan had to go through the lengthy underwriting process again and at this point, we were wondering whether this was the worst decision we ever made. With a heavy heart, we asked the architect to stop his work, and delayed our building permit submission.

 

So without any control over this situation, no way to back out of the purchase contract, and no way to extend our Brookdale Rd lease (the landlord had already found another tenant), we had no choice but to temporarily close SAAGE at the end of Feb’25. This journey has been anything but straightforward and we’ve faced more challenges within this past year than we ever did in our 10 years of business. We’re not posting our story to complain about our string of unfortunate events, but because we owe an explanation to our valued kitchen members who either had to shift operations to unfamiliar spaces, reduce their capacity, or pause production altogether. We kept getting emails and messages asking for updates, but we had to disappoint you every time. Past clients have contacted us because they needed extra workspace this summer for attending additional markets, but we let you all down. We deeply regret the inconvenience and stress this caused all of you.

 

But good times follow the bad and despite all the setbacks, we’re now just a few weeks away from opening our doors. Construction is moving along and this time, we’re confident the finish line is in sight! Construction pictures will be revealed soon, and please look forward for more timely updates starting now.

 

■ April’25: After getting loan approval and a closing date, we submitted building plans and permit application to the city of Aurora and Kane county.

■ May’25: We finally closed on the property…a year later than expected. We are now legal owners of our very own SAAGE building!

■ June’25: Permit application was approved and plans were stamped. Construction begins!

■ August’25…Open?

 

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of this journey with us. Your patience and willingness to wait and stick with us really means the world. We can't wait to welcome you into your new home soon!