Downtown Hinsdale This Fall: A Beloved Bakery Changes Hands and a Corner Gets Rebuilt

Twenty-five years ago, Craig Zoberis and his wife, Tracy, had a white chocolate mousse wedding cake from Toni's Patisserie & Café. A few weeks ago, Toni Cox made the top tier again for their early anniversary. This time Zoberis was one of the bakery's owners. The Hinsdalean told the story when it reported the sale.

That cake shows what is happening downtown this fall. Several of the biggest changes on First and Washington have the same source: people who live in Hinsdale buying the places they have been visiting for years. The plans they have announced share a direction too. They point to a downtown that stays open later in the day and adds homes on the upper floors.

A 32-year-old bakery adds dinner

Zoberis, Mark Konieczka and Tom Wake are all Hinsdale residents. Earlier this year they bought Toni's at 51 S. Washington St. from Toni Cox and her husband, Paul Pell, who opened the shop 32 years ago. Zoberis found the listing in November through Eatz, a broker that sells restaurant businesses. He recognized the bakery from its description. When another buyer's deal fell through in early January, the broker called him.

The new owners bring varied backgrounds to a bakery. Wake has worked in wholesale distribution and Konieczka in commercial real estate. Wake calls Zoberis a serial entrepreneur and engineer. About ten years ago, Konieczka and his wife, Stephanie, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, thought about opening a cupcake shop in town.

The recipes came with the sale. Customers' favorites will still be made the way Cox makes them. Cox is staying on for now to help with the transition, and Steve Rennau is continuing as director of operations.

The bigger change is the hours. Liquor licenses in Hinsdale don't transfer from one owner to the next, so Toni's was briefly without one after the sale. The new owners applied for a license that includes spirits, and the village said the restaurant plans to add dinner service, Patch reported in September. On Oct. 6 the Village Board voted 6-0 to approve two licenses. The Class B4 license allows packaged sales of wine, champagne and beer. The Class B6 license covers alcohol served with breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. The previous owners had a Class B1 license, which limited service to beer and wine at lunch and dinner, according to the Hinsdale Journal. The village memo said the owners don't plan to serve alcohol during early breakfast hours. Konieczka hinted at the possibilities when he told The Hinsdalean, "Perhaps there are bloody Marys in the future."

One owner, five buildings, one corner

A block away, the same pattern is playing out on a larger scale. Pete Tortorello has lived in Hinsdale for 20 years. His company, Fairfield Properties, has bought five downtown buildings since November 2025, most of them on or near the southwest corner of First and Washington. His office is at 11 E. First St. "It's kind of fun - I can walk from building to building," he told The Hinsdalean. He says many of his investors are local too.

Here is what is happening at each address, based on The Hinsdalean's reporting:

• 102 S. Washington St. John Papenhausen built this building in 1888 for his tailoring business. It was the only commercial building on the south side of First Street at the time. Alixandra Blue is on the garden level and Studio W. is on the first floor. Above them, the old family quarters are becoming a two-floor, 2,025-square-foot apartment that Tortorello calls the "Owners Unit." Plans call for three bedrooms and a window in the turret that looks out over the business district.
• 8-10 W. First St. Tortorello calls this one the "yellow house." Crews are adding new gray siding and upgrading the HVAC and electrical systems. Frame Bridge, a national online custom-framing company, will move in when the work is done.
• The small building behind 8-10 W. First. This one-story, 700-square-foot space used to be a salon. Plans call for skylights, a bay window and an accessible bathroom. The door will be moved so it lines up with the walkway to First Street.
• 104-106 S. Washington St. The second-floor offices above My Eye Doctor will become four one-bedroom apartments as current leases end.
• 11-21 E. First St. This was his first purchase, in November 2025. It holds 10 Friends, Sweet William and Blue Mercury on the ground floor, with apartments and offices above.

The plan builds on the same idea as the bakery's new dinner service. Tortorello estimates there are 20 to 25 apartments downtown. "They're kind of tucked away and people don't know about them - and most of them are vintage," he said. He sees the most demand from people who sell a house and want to stay in town in a smaller home. More people living upstairs means more people out on First Street after the shops close. The parking area behind the yellow house could become a brick-paver patio for the right tenant. "It could be a food use. It could be retail. It could be anything," he said, adding, "I think we need more food options for quick bites in Hinsdale."

The cost of a renovated downtown

Renovations cost money, and Tortorello said so directly. He has noticed that many downtown buildings owned by the same family for decades have changed hands recently. As those buildings are upgraded, he said, rents will go up. "You're making a significant investment in the property and there's a lot of spending power in the community," he said.

Rent pressure is already showing up elsewhere on Washington Street. In July, Lepa Boutique at 42 S. Washington St. announced it would close after nine years. The owner told Patch that a 125% rent increase made the location unworkable. Over the next few years, this fall's changes will bring new uses and higher costs to the same blocks. Which storefronts stay will depend on which businesses can make the new numbers work.

The openings still to come

Some of the most anticipated arrivals downtown are still in progress, and the owners behind them are familiar.

Humble Patty is a planned smashburger and soft-serve restaurant at 50 S. Garfield Ave., the former Dips & Dogs space. It comes from Sam and Patricia Vlahos, who own Fuller House. In June, The Hinsdalean reported they were aiming to open by Labor Day. Later that month, the Hinsdale Journal reported only a general 2026 target. The space has been empty for five years, so a burger counter there would give Garfield the kind of quick bite Tortorello says the town needs.

Hometown Coffee & Juice is a North Shore café taking over the former Casa Margarita space at 25 E. Hinsdale Ave. In April the owners said they hoped to open by the end of the year.

Frame Bridge will open at the yellow house on West First once the renovation is finished. The Hinsdalean's September report did not give an opening date.

The most recent dates for all three come from spring and summer reports, so the storefront windows will be the first place any update shows up.

The season ahead on these blocks

Toni's new owners face their first big test soon. "The fourth quarter is always a huge thing for us and a lot of work," Cox told The Hinsdalean, and the group is preparing for the holiday rush. The Monday farmers market on Chicago Avenue closed for the year on Oct. 12. From here, the calendar brings people back downtown on these dates:

1. Saturday, Oct. 24, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The village's free Fall Family Fest takes place at Hinsdale Middle School and downtown. It includes trick-or-treating at participating businesses, and the first 500 participants get pumpkins.
2. Friday, Dec. 4, 5 to 7 p.m. The Chamber's 60th annual Christmas Walk runs through downtown and Burlington Park. It includes Santa, the tree lighting, visits to local businesses, carousel rides and train rides. It brings an evening crowd downtown during Toni's first holiday season under the new owners, who have dinner service planned.
3. Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hinsdale for the Holidays is free at Burlington Park, with gingerbread-cookie decorating, horse-drawn carriage rides and Santa.

One more project is further off. Dietz Park's playground was installed in 2005 and is the oldest of the village's 11. It will be replaced with dueling slides, a caterpillar climber, climbing walls, a saucer swing and bongo drums. The board approved $194,176 for the work on Oct. 6, under the $200,000 budget, and construction is expected to finish next spring.

If you're thinking about your own next step in Hinsdale, such as a smaller home closer to First Street or a sale timed around the holiday season, Rhonda Hoff would be glad to talk through it with you over a coffee at Toni's. Let's Connect.