Sabatino’s, funeral home to be razed
by BRIAN NADIG
The former Sabatino’s restaurant, the Fairbrother Funeral Home and other buildings in the 4400 block of West Irving Park Road could soon be demolished to make way for the construction of a Northwestern Medical Group immediate care facility and primary care offices.
A fence has been installed around the 65,000-square-foot parcel, which runs along the south side of Irving Park between Kenneth Avenue and Kilbourn Avenue.
The block includes two two-story apartment buildings that were built more than 100 years ago and include decorative facades.
A permit to demolish the funeral home is pending with the city Department of Buildings. However, all of the structures on the block are expected to be torn down as early as this summer as demolition equipment has been moved to the site.
Sabatino’s was a popular Northwest Side restaurant that brothers Angelo ad Enzo Pagni operated for about 40 years. It closed in late 2018.
"Sabatino’s meant so much to so many residents within our community. The Enzo family will always have a home here in the 45th Ward.
"However, our future is extremely bright and we look forward to helping usher in a revival to that stretch of Irving Park and to the surrounding Six Corners area," Alderman Jim Gardiner (45th) said.
In 2018 a developer expressed interest in building apartments on portions of the block, but the project never materialized.
Details of Northwestern’s project, including a construction timetable, were not available. The block is zoned B3-1, which limits new construction to a 38-foot height, but a Gardiner spokeswoman said that a zoning change is expected for the project and that Northwestern is getting feedback on the proposal from residents.
