Athena Board Game Cafe plans to reopen in Rogers Park by early fall at the former site of the Heartland Cafe, the neighborhood’s iconic restaurant and music venue.
The single-story property was torn down in 2019 and replaced with a five-story apartment building that includes retail space on the ground floor. Athena, which signed a 10-year lease, will occupy a 985-square-foot space once construction at the building is complete.
“We expect to offer the same products and services that our customers appreciated in the first location in a new, modern building,” Athena’s founder Patricia Gonzalez said.
Its new location, at 1412 W. Lunt Ave., will have hundreds of board games for visitors to play and serve food and drinks. Customers will also be able to bring their own alcohol.
“I have lived in Rogers Park for almost six years now. I moved here because it is a vibrant, community-oriented place, and I expect it will continue to be that,” Gonzales said. “Rogers Park residents were the core of my customers in my previous location, and I’m looking forward to welcoming them again at the new site.”
The board game cafe will open on a site with a legacy. Heartland Cafe co-founders Katy Hogan and Michael James opened the restaurant and venue in 1976 with the idea of creating community through food, entertainment and the exchange of ideas, according to WBEZ.
Heartland closed in 2018 and the following year, owner Tom Rosenfeld sold the building to real estate investor Sam Goldman for $1.3 million. Soon after, the venue that once hosted politicians such as former mayor Harold Washington and President Barack Obama was demolished to build what’s now the Glenwood Point Apartments.
Rosenfeld said at the time that he couldn’t maintain the beloved restaurant and decided to sell, according to Block Club Chicago. Heartland faced financial struggles, including a $455,000 foreclosure lawsuit filed in 2018.
Gonzalez recalls visiting Heartland when she moved to Rogers Park in 2018.
“It was a beautiful place, welcoming with delicious food,” she said. “I’m happy that Athena will be here to be another anchor and gathering place for the neighborhood and still hope for more spaces and activities around us.”
The idea for Athena was inspired by Gonzalez’s visit to a board game cafe in London called Draughts, where she and her daughter spent hours playing board games.
She opened Athena at 1418 W. Howard St. in March 2020 but closed the location in 2023. Gonzalez said customers enjoyed classic games like Battleship or Guess Who? while more experienced players favored Splendor, Ticket to Ride and Catan.
Al Goldberg, managing broker of Al Goldberg Real Estate, which represented Athena, said in news release, “I was a customer of the Heartland Cafe since they opened in 1976 and look forward to being able to play the APBA Baseball Game at Athena Board Game Cafe.”
“We are pleased to have Athena Board Game Cafe opening in the building; we feel that it is a good fit with the Rogers Park neighborhood and hope that the community will once again enjoy this corner,” Goldman, principal of AGE Glenwood, said in a news release.
The Glenwood Point Apartments has 30 units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, with rents up to $3,450. Tenants began moving in early this year, and Goldman said out of the 30 units, 28 have been rented.
It also has an indoor party room with an outdoor deck, 15 indoor parking spaces and storage for 30 bicycles.
“I see East Rogers Park as one of the most dynamic areas in the city,” said Goldman in an emailed statement. “The rapidly declining reliance on cars and car-centric lifestyles marks this as the kind of vibrant and exciting neighborhood that is becoming a model for Chicago’s future.”