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A prominent developer is buying the venerable Essen Haus restaurant and Come Back In tavern and plans to demolish the Essen Haus for a project that would transform a prominent Downtown block.

McGrath Property Group has a contract to purchase three buildings in the center of the 500 block of East Wilson Street, a large parking lot behind them and four duplexes from 110 to 118 S. Blair St. for housing and commercial redevelopment. For now, plans call for closing the Essen Haus and Come Back In eventually, although the building holding the latter would be preserved.

The developer isn’t buying the landmark Hotel Ruby Marie and its Up North Bar at the corner of East Wilson and South Blair streets or the tiny vacant lots at 502-504 E. Wilson St. where the former O’Cayz Corral bar stood before it was destroyed by fire in 2001.

In a preliminary concept, McGrath would demolish the Essen Haus building, preserve and renovate the Come Back In building and a small building at 518 E. Wilson St., and raze the four duplexes for a six-story, 340,800-square-foot structure. The new building would have three levels of parking with 343 parking spaces, four commercial spaces, and four floors of housing with 230 to 250 units.