Northbrook's Metra Depot Café Took Three Tries to Lease. Next Up, Boba and Waffles.

The floor plan attached to the lease is drawn in feet and inches. The tenant space measures 16.7 by 10 feet, or 167 square feet. Behind it are two storage rooms of 36 and 29 square feet, for 232 square feet in all. The rest of the drawing shows a portable condiment cart, two portable newspaper racks, a set of beverage coolers, and the ticket agent's window next door. All of it sits off the entry pavilion of the Northbrook Metra station at 1401 Shermer Road, between the entry hall and the main waiting area.

That small room just went through a nearly two-year search for a tenant. On August 25, 2026, the Village Board approved an agreement for a café called Sip and Bite there, according to the Village's meeting summary. The Public Works staff memo in the August 25 agenda packet identifies the tenant as AWSOME B., Inc. of Mount Prospect. The space is a concession managed by Village Hall, and getting it filled was harder than you might expect from a counter that sees a full commuter platform every weekday morning.

Three Solicitations, One Qualified Proposal

The Village doesn't own the depot. Metra does. Northbrook holds the agreement to operate and maintain the station, and that agreement lets it sublease space inside for a coffee shop or another business. Northbrook has had a tenant in the space since 1994. Here is the recent record, from the Public Works staff memos:

1. 2023. The Village signs a one-year lease with the sitting tenant.
2. November 2024. The operator of The Grind Cafe signs a six-month sublease at $275 a month, which works out to $1,650 for the term, according to a November 2024 Public Works memo. The lease can continue month to month after that. The operator had told the Village he planned to wind down the shop, and he was helping find a replacement.
3. March 2025 and June 2025. The Village issues a Request for Qualifications twice. Neither round ends in a lease with a qualified proposer.
4. May 2026. A third RFQ draws exactly one qualified proposal, from AWSOME B., Inc.
5. August 25, 2026. The board approves a two-year sublease, and staff recommends sending the existing tenant a notice of cancellation.
6. September 25, 2026. The new lease term begins.

From that six-month stopgap in November 2024 to the new lease's start date, the counter spent close to two years on short-term terms with a tenant who was ready to move on. In a downtown where coffee businesses keep opening, three solicitations and one serious taker point to the space itself as the problem.

Why a Commuter Counter Is a Hard Lease

The April 2025 RFQ shows what the Village was asking for. Its preferred hours started 30 minutes before the first train, which it listed at 5:30 a.m., and ran until the last morning rush-hour train at 9:36 a.m., Monday through Friday. Vendors were encouraged to stay open until at least 10 a.m. The Village said it would also consider later hours, up to the station and waiting room's 8 p.m. closing.

So the core weekday shift runs from about 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., and the money depends on how many people come through the door during the rush. A 167-square-foot counter has little room for anything that isn't grab-and-go.

The Village knew that, and the 2025 RFQ cast a wide net. Beyond another coffee shop, it said it would consider these uses:

• A nonprofit job training or retail site
• A bakery or other grab-and-go food service
• A florist or personal care services
• Shoeshine or shoe repair
• A newsstand or bookstore

It also said it would consider uses that might need a zoning variance, if they served commuters or the community. It ruled out banks and ATMs, tobacco, dry cleaners and alcohol sales. Even with that list, two rounds in 2025 didn't produce a lease.

Rent under the new agreement is $300 a month, $25 more than The Grind paid, or $3,600 a year. The money goes to the Village's Parking Fund. The Village also provides water and electricity at no charge, and the tenant pays only for data service. At that price, the hard part is the business model. A tenant has to staff a counter before dawn on weekdays for a stream of riders who have a few minutes at most, then put everything away at closing so the lobby and hallway are clear. The lease requires that cleanup every day.

Boba, Waffles and a Lease Through 2028

AWSOME B., Inc. pitched a menu that goes beyond a standard commuter coffee stand. The staff memo lists coffee, tea and boba, plus bakery items such as waffles and croissants. The sublease, which is printed in the agenda packet, also covers some shared space in the north entry hallway and waiting area, where the tenant can set up portable coolers, a condiment cart, pub tables and newspaper racks. The lease is signed by Hyun Gu Kang as president of the company.

Village staff said the operator provided an Equipment Purchase Agreement showing it had invested in the business. The term runs 24 months, from September 25, 2026 to September 25, 2028. If both sides agree in writing, it can be renewed for 12 more months. The Grind's last agreement was six months with a month-to-month option, so this is the longest commitment the counter has had in several years.

The menu also fits the hours the Village said it would allow. Boba and waffles can sell after 9:36 a.m., and Metra's station page lists the waiting room as open from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. The 2025 RFQ's preferred schedule was a request to bidders, and the 2026 lease doesn't set hours. Check the counter's posted hours before counting on it for a 5:30 departure.

The Rest of the Morning Coffee Map Near the Depot

The depot counter has a clear role in downtown Northbrook's morning. Here's what else is close by, with each business's posted hours:

None of these opens before 7 a.m. Basu, just down Shermer from the station, serves milk tea and Vietnamese coffee from late morning into the evening, which is the part of the day a boba menu at the depot would also be aiming for. If Sip and Bite's posted hours start before the early trains, the depot counter will be the only stop on this list pouring coffee between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Hometown Coffee & Juice could change that. The Village's development project tracker, last updated October 9, 2026, says the business got its permit in July 2025 and that construction is still underway on the existing building at 1290 Shermer Road. That's more than 15 months of buildout so far, and the tracker gives no opening date. Until it opens, the counter inside the depot is the coffee option tied most closely to the train schedule.

If you're keeping track of what's changing around downtown, our Northbrook neighborhood page and our look at living near Northbrook Court and downtown Northbrook cover the bigger projects nearby.

The Shore Group keeps up with downtown Northbrook block by block, from the depot counter at 1401 Shermer Road to the buildout at 1290. If how close you live to the station matters for your next move, we're glad to talk it through.