"You need to own the dirt so you can control as many variables as you can," Israel Idonije told The TRiiBE in January. "If you can own the dirt, that is an important part of longevity."
That line explains more about the stretch of Wabash Avenue, 16th Street and South Michigan Avenue than any single opening this year. The former Chicago Bear's Pangea Restaurant Group now has a bar, a cafe and a sports bar operating within a few blocks of each other. An ice cream parlor, a Japanese cocktail bar and a 154-room hotel are still in progress. Nearly every concept has opened later than first announced. And nearly every one has stayed in the neighborhood it was promised to. For anyone who lives nearby, the useful way to read Pangea is that the addresses hold and the calendars don't.
The newest one took six months longer than planned
Martini Lounge opened quietly at 1520 S. Wabash Ave. in mid-September, in the space M Lounge held for 20 years under Reginald and MaryAnn Marsh. Idonije took over the bar in fall 2025. In January, he told The TRiiBE that the 1,400-square-foot lounge would open in March, with weekly poetry nights, live music and karaoke. It opened about six months after that.
What opened is close to what was described. The menu has 12 martinis split into Classic Martinis and Disco Martinis, including the Porn Star at $21. Beverage director Luke DeYoung previously ran drinks at Oliver's and at Buttercup. There is no kitchen, so food means chips and dip for $10 or olives and nuts for $12. The room has about 100 round, soft light fixtures overhead and plush green and zebra-print seating. M Lounge's Miles Davis portrait is still on the wall. Former M Lounge DJs are booked for Friday sets. Martini Lounge is open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Thursday through Sunday.
So the concept and the address matched the plan, and only the date moved. That pattern repeats down the line.
Where every Pangea concept stands this fall
Concept | Address | What it is | Status as of early October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
The Staley | 1736 S. Michigan Ave. | Family-friendly, Bears-oriented sports bar, formerly Kroll's | Open since January 2025 |
Buttercup | 75 E. 16th St. | Northern Italian day cafe and amaro bar, formerly 16th Street Cafe & Bar | Open since September 2025 |
Martini Lounge | 1520 S. Wabash Ave. | Martini bar in the former M Lounge | Opened mid-September 2026 |
Happy's Classic Ice Cream | 69 E. 16th St. | Ice cream parlor with 10 to 12 flavors | Still in the works as of September |
Bar Dimi | Not yet reported | High-end Japanese cocktail bar with Fabio Viviani | Planned for 2026 |
Hudson House | 2222 S. Michigan Ave. | 154-room Hilton Curio Collection hotel with restaurant and event space | Expected 2027 |
Signature Steak | 1312 S. Wabash Ave. | Steakhouse | Closed February 2026 |
The two established spots set the daily rhythm. Buttercup serves espresso and matcha in the morning and amaro-focused cocktails at night. It opens at 8 a.m. every day and runs until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The Staley opens at 3 p.m. on weekdays and noon on weekends, and it keeps a separate game-day menu alongside its everyday bar food. When it opened, Block Club singled out its hush puppies, mozzarella sticks, poutine and pizza.
Taken together, the three open concepts cover breakfast, a game afternoon and a late night without leaving a short walk between Wabash and Michigan.
Promised dates against actual ones
Here is how Pangea's announced timelines have held up, in the order they were made:
- Hudson House hotel. In February 2025, Block Club reported an early-2026 opening. By January 2026, The TRiiBE had 2027.
- Martini Lounge. The target was March 2026. It opened in mid-September 2026.
- Happy's Classic Ice Cream. Idonije said the team would "push hard to get it done in the summer during ice cream season." Block Club still described it as in progress on Sept. 17, and that summer has now passed.
- Bar Dimi. It was announced in January as a 2026 project. Block Club's September report mentioned only "a Japanese cocktail bar," with no name or address.
None of these projects has been dropped. Each is still attached to the corridor where it was first announced.
Why the dates slip and the addresses don't
Idonije is open about how he works. "I'm not an operator," he told The TRiiBE. "I'm a visionary. I'm trying to accelerate my education in the space, so the volume is really important." He says he has mapped out more than 30 hospitality concepts for Chicago. He relies on partners to run them, including chef Stephen Gillanders, Fabio Viviani, Alex Carnovale and DeYoung. The relationship with Gillanders began when Idonije ate at S.K.Y. in Pilsen and got invited into its tiny kitchen.
That model trades speed for range. Every concept runs on a partner's calendar and a buildout's calendar, so dates move. The real estate side moves on a much longer timeline. Idonije began buying property in the South Loop in 2014, including the Hudson Motor building on Motor Row. He says owning the property under each new concept matters to him going forward.
The hotel shows that patience most clearly. Urbanize reported in November 2025 that a renovation permit would let McHugh Construction start the buildout at 2222 S. Michigan, though no construction timeline had been announced. Preservation Chicago marked the start of construction that same month. It noted that the revised plan, 154 rooms plus restaurant and event space, replaced an earlier version that included co-living units. Gillanders is involved in the Motor Row project, though no restaurant concept has been named.
Signature Steak at 1312 S. Wabash was Pangea's first restaurant. It opened in 2024 and closed in February 2026, about a year after a rebrand. Block Club reported that Idonije gave no reason. According to The TRiiBE, it was also the one concept where he did not own the real estate.
His reasons for picking this neighborhood go back to his playing years. On game days, the Bears stayed at the Hilton on South Michigan Avenue. He remembers the South Loop of the 2000s and early 2010s as short on places "to network, hang out, people watch and have a sexy date night experience." He told Block Club that the South Loop "has been like the stepchild of these neighborhoods, kind of an afterthought, despite being the heart of the city. It's a beautiful neighborhood, but undervalued. I think that's changing." The name Pangea points to his longer-term plan to use the group's resources to back other minority-owned and minority-led restaurant concepts in the city.
What's on the near-term calendar
For the rest of October, the Pangea blocks share the calendar with a few dates that affect the same streets:
- Chicago Marathon, Sunday, Oct. 11. Race-day closures include Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue, and organizers warn that access is affected beyond the course itself. Additional Grant Park closures begin Thursday, Oct. 8.
- Open House Chicago, Oct. 17 and 18. Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation, the former Chess Records building at 2120 S. Michigan Ave., is open noon to 4 p.m. both days. It is a short walk from the Hudson Motor building.
- South Loop Farmers Market. The market at 632 S. Dearborn St. runs Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., through Oct. 31.
- Cafe Tabeeb. Owners Tahani Hassan and Mohammed Awad opened this cafe at 720 S. Wells St. in the Cooper this summer, serving coffee made mostly from single-origin beans.
When Happy's opens at 69 E. 16th St., Pangea will run two businesses on the same block of 16th Street, with Buttercup at No. 75. Bar Dimi still has no reported address. Until then, the addresses are certain and the dates are estimates.
At Rafael Murillo's RM Luxury Group, we track which South Loop corridors are getting long-term investment from the people who own the buildings. If you want a private read on what the Wabash, 16th Street and Motor Row pipeline means for a specific address, request a private consultation.
