Introduction to North Lawndale’s Newest Brunch Spot
NORTH LAWNDALE — A vacant three-story building in North Lawndale is being turned into a restaurant and events venue, bringing a new business and apartments to the Roosevelt Road corridor by the end of the summer.
The Redevelopment Project
Rufarro Remodeling and Maintenance, a North Lawndale-based construction and development company founded by Martiez Grayer, is leading the redevelopment of 3420 W. Roosevelt Road. The more-than-6,000-square-foot building will have two apartments as well as RRM Visions Cafe, a restaurant and events venue.
RRM Visions Cafe
RRM Visions Cafe, which uses the initials of Grayer’s construction business, will be housed on the first floor and offer breakfast and brunch foods that Grayer does not see in North Lawndale, he said.
“Every morning, I go out to Steak’n Egger in Cicero to have my coffee and my bacon and eggs to get me ready for the day,” Grayer said. “We don’t have that in our community. … North Lawndale is a food desert. There’s not a lot of nice food establishments.”
Grayer said the restaurant will offer staple American breakfast dishes, including bacon, eggs, grits, omelets and biscuits using a family recipe from Grayer’s father, among other dishes.
Cafe Features
RRM Visions Cafe will have a coffee bar with counter seating and a lounge seating area, renderings show. It will also have a full dining room.
A rendering of RRM Visions Cafe showing its lounge area and coffee bar. Credit: A rendering of the future RRM Visions Cafe, coming to 3420 W. Roosevelt Road.
The restaurant will be able to convert into a multi-use space that can host community events and events by Grayer’s hospitality company, RRM Visions.
“We were literally passing out Easter baskets out of my house. Now we don’t have to do that,” Grayer said. “We don’t have to use our personal homes to do these community events or giveaways.”
Funding and Timeline
In April, the restaurant project was awarded a $250,000 community development grant from the city’s Department of Planning and Development. The total cost of the project is roughly $350,000, Grayer said.
RRM Visions Cafe and the rest of the development is set to open Aug. 28.
“We have been doing stuff in the community with no funding for so long. We’re talking years. … It’s major” to receive the grant, Grayer said.
A rendering of the future RRM Visions Cafe, coming to 3420 W. Roosevelt Road. Credit: Provided
Rufarro Remodeling’s Mission
Grayer, born and raised in North Lawndale, founded his construction firm in 2020 to be a “community-driven company,” he said. The name Rufarro honors Grayer’s late brother. The company regularly hosts events for major holidays such as Easter, Juneteenth and Mother’s Day.
Rufarro Remodeling is leading a campaign to start an in-house program to hire young people from North Lawndale to be trained in remodeling, electrical, plumbing and HVAC work. The company previously partnered with EDDR Corporation Workforce Development for job training. Grayer said all jobs offered pay more than the minimum wage.
“We’re trying to garner that attention to make it cool to be an electrician or to be a plumber and to be able to let our youth know that there’s other avenues” for a career, Grayer said.
Conclusion
Rufarro Remodeling’s project on West Roosevelt Road will be its first mixed-use redevelopment. The company acquired the property last year, Grayer said.
“Throughout the course of doing community events, we found that we lacked the space to congregate and network,” Grayer said. “We can have a nice, safe space for the community and then, on the flip side, too, it’s a restaurant.”
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