Joliet will negotiate Union Station contract with Mistwood Golf Club

JOLIET – City staff will negotiate a contract with Mistwood Golf Club to take over the banquet room at Union Station in January.

The Joliet City Council Economic Development Committee gave the OK on Thursday to negotiate a contract that eventually will have to be approved by the full council.

Mistwood plans to develop events beyond weddings and banquets to bring more people to Union Station, a plan that appeals to city officials.

“We thought that these folks just had an incredible vision for the place,” said Steve Jones, the city’s economic development director.

The Romeoville golf club does weddings and other events now at The Great Hall at Mistwood Golf Club. It also runs McWerthy’s Tavern at the club. It also runs McQ’s, a sports dome with a restaurant and bar in Bolingbrook.

Mistwood was one of three businesses that responded to the city search for banquet operators and caterers to take over The Grand Ballroom at Union Station. Bussean Custom Caterers, which has run the facility since 2001, is leaving in mid-January.

“We aren’t out there looking for additional venues,” Mistwood General Manager Dan Bradley told the committee. “When this opportunity arose, there was something about The Grand Ballroom that appealed to us. It’s unique.”

The city received proposals from Mistwood and Cutting Edge Caterers in Shorewood.

Committee Chairman Larry Hug said both Mistwood and Cutting Edge “have fine reputations in cuisine.” But city officials liked Mistwood’s plans for events beyond weddings and banquets.

“It was what they were going to outside of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the typical days that you book,” Hug said.

Bradley suggested holiday brunches, craft beer events and wine tastings as a few possibilities that could draw more people into Union Station throughout the year.

Mistwood has proposed a six-year lease that would pay at least $1,500 a month. The city would receive 15 percent of gross sales up to $500,000, 10 percent of revenues between $500,000 and $750,000, and 5 percent of revenues above $750,000.

Union Station is a landmark limestone train station that opened in 1912. The city shut Union Station as a train facility two years ago when commuter platforms were moved to the other side of the tracks where a new train station will be built.

Mistwood is one of two new businesses moving in.

Two entrepreneurs are converting a section of the lower level of Union Station to a brew pub to be named MyGrain Brewing Co. The banquet room is on the second floor.