Durty Nellie's Closed, Slade Street Opened: Where Downtown Palatine's Evenings Go Now

On Sunday, October 4, Durty Nellie's looked like it did on most fall Sundays. Football played on the TVs and regulars sat at the bar. The Daily Herald reported that the scene could have passed for a typical afternoon, except that it was last call for the place that "for decades defined nightlife in downtown Palatine."

Six days later, the Goldmember Band started the village's grand reopening of Slade Street. The Daily Herald described a block party. Some people stood in the parking lot, some sat at picnic tables, and several filled the new patio along Slade under canopies of café lights.

Those six days change how downtown Palatine's evenings are set up. For decades the center was one building with a stage and an upstairs dance floor. The new setup is outdoor space shared along a street, and the business taking over the old Nellie's site is planning around a patio too.

Fifty-Four Years, Mostly Indoors

Durty Nellie's opened in 1972 at 55 N. Bothwell St. and moved to its final address, 180 N. Smith St., in 2003. According to the Daily Herald's last-day story, two commercial airline pilots started it and named it after a centuries-old pub in Ireland. Jim Dolezal and his brother Mark bought it in 1988.

Nearly everything the pub was known for happened indoors. In the same story, customers remembered bands like Gaelic Storm on its stage, kids learning Irish step dancing in the basement. Dolezal called it "the heart of this community" and listed the fundraisers, reunions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, celebrations of life and St. Patrick's Day parties it had hosted.

Village Council member Greg Langer wrote on Facebook that when people learn he's from Palatine, he often hears about a band they saw at Durty Nellie's. For a lot of the northwest suburbs, the pub was the reason to come downtown at night.

What $4 Million Put on Slade Street

The village's answer came in the same month, and it's built on a different idea. In April, the Village Council approved contracts to rebuild Slade Street with reconfigured parking, outdoor café dining, more landscaping and a more pedestrian-friendly design between Bothwell and Brockway. Completion was targeted for Labor Day. Martam Construction won the construction contract at $3.2 million, about 8% under budget. The council also approved $149,000 for construction engineering from Doland Engineering and a $686,000 purchasing list for pergolas, streetlights, café lighting poles, cameras and fencing.

Pergolas and café lighting poles are equipment for outdoor dining. At the reopening, the street had overhead string lights, freshly mulched planting beds, new brick pavers and lampposts with globe lights.

Before the event, Village Manager Reid Ottesen told the Daily Herald that the work used about $4 million in tax increment financing funds. Beyond landscaping and lighting, it included storm sewer improvements and replacement of lead service lines connected to buildings.

"We've totally redone Slade Street from Plum Grove (Road) all the way over to Towne Square Park." Village Manager Reid Ottesen, in the Daily Herald

Mayor Jim Schwantz told the paper the goal was "some excitement" and "some aesthetics," which he said the overhead lighting, bumpouts and outdoor seating for some establishments delivered. Ottesen added that an agreement with the owner of the BMO building expanded downtown parking.

The businesses that took part in the reopening show who is around the new patio. The village allowed carry-out drinks into the event area from JL's Pizza & Sports Bar, Schnell's Brauhaus, TJ O'Brien's Bar & Grill, Madcats and Pizza Bella. At 117 W. Slade St., the building that houses MadCats Live also includes My Flavor It! Place. The Daily Herald reported in May that Loft 19 Golf Club was approved for a reservation-only indoor golf space with three simulators in a 2,800-square-foot unit in the same building. That May report did not give an opening date.

People at the reopening told the Daily Herald how they expected to use the space. One attendee said he already comes downtown often and would be more likely to stay in this area with the outdoor patio

The Replacement on Smith Street Is Built Around a Patio, Too

Big Grove Brewery is taking over the old Nellie's building. Its plan was approved about four weeks before last call, and it puts much of its space outdoors. Journal & Topics reported that the village approved it on September 8 to remodel 180–190 N. Smith St. into a full-service restaurant, taproom and small on-site brewery with a merchandise shop and about 150 employees.

Here's how the approved plan compares with what the building held before:

The plan drops 25 seats from the old approval and adds a 9,000-square-foot patio with fire pits, which would give downtown a second large outdoor gathering space alongside the village's new Slade patio. Big Grove's chief operating officer told the council that demolition should start as soon as possible and that the company hoped to open by next summer. The Daily Herald reported the same summer target. That puts the hoped-for opening in summer 2027, and it's a goal, not a confirmed date.

The Calendar From Here

The Slade work is the first of three phases, and the dates ahead show where the outdoor setup expands next:

1. October 4, 2026. Durty Nellie's closed after 54 years.
2. October 10, 2026. Grand reopening of Slade Street, 3 to 9 p.m., at the Firefighters Memorial Parking Lot at Brockway and Slade.
3. Saturday, November 21, 2026. The village's free annual tree lighting at Towne Square runs 4 to 7 p.m., with the countdown at 5 p.m. The Palatine Park District lists live music from the Palatine Children's Chorus, photos with Santa, hot chocolate and treats.
4. 2027. Phase two moves to the intersection of Plum Grove and Palatine roads, plus some improvements on Bothwell and Brockway south of Slade. Big Grove is aiming to open the same year.
5. 2028. Phase three improves the area north of Towne Square Park.

The Slade improvements run along the south side of the Union Pacific Northwest line. At the reopening, one resident told the Daily Herald that other towns along the line are building similar destinations and that the village should keep going on the other side of the tracks. According to village officials, phases two and three will happen over the next two years.

The Season the Patio Hasn't Seen Yet

The Slade patio opened in summerlike weather on October 10. None of the village statements or news coverage so far explains how the space will be used or managed once it gets cold. Big Grove's plan describes its patio seating as seasonal and includes gas fire pits.

That leaves the indoor rooms along Slade and at 117 W. Slade carrying downtown evenings through the winter. The first big outdoor event under the new lights is the November 21 tree lighting at Towne Square, the park at one end of the stretch Ottesen says the village "totally redone."

If you own a home near downtown Palatine and want to talk about how the Slade rebuild, Big Grove's plans and the 2027 and 2028 phases fit into your own timing, Valorie Schmidt is glad to go through it with you. You can schedule a consultation or request a free home valuation whenever it's useful.