Homewood brewpub ‘a work of love,’ mother of late rapper Juice Wrld says at groundbreaking

For now, it’s a large hole in the ground, but Carmela Wallace talked Friday about how the brewpub project she’s undertaking in Homewood will be a tribute to her son, Jarad Higgins, the rapper known as Juice Wrld.

She picked Friday as the groundbreaking for Homewood Brewing Co. as it would have been the 24th birthday for Higgins.

Higgins grew up in Homewood and attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School. He died Dec. 8, 2019, six days after his 21st birthday. An autopsy showed he died accidentally from an overdose of oxycodone and codeine.

The project is “a work of love and to honor my son,” Wallace said after the groundbreaking, where she was joined by family and village officials.

The 18,000-square-foot space will feature a rooftop garden and outdoor patios, farm-to-table menu items and be a venue for local artists to display there work in whatever form it might be, Wallace said.

The plan is to open in the first quarter of 2024, she said. It is at the site of the former Bogart’s Charhouse, 18225 Dixie Highway.

The groundbreaking is a milestone but not the final goal and is the “beginning of something beautiful,” Wallace said.

“We want to create an environment that is warm and welcoming and like a second home for people,” Wallace said.

Artists will have an opportunity to display their works inside the brewpub, and Wallace said she envisions musicians performing.

“A lot of thought went into this,” she said.

“This is going to be a great addition to the town,” Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said after the groundbreaking.

Higgins suffered convulsions and went into cardiac arrest as Chicago police and federal agents searched his and his entourage’s luggage for guns and drugs at a private hangar at Midway Airport.

Higgins, his girlfriend and other members of his group had flown on a private jet from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Higgins’ music career took off after he gained support from freestyling on his high school’s radio show, according to a 2018 Chicago Tribune profile.

He had landed a $3 million deal with Interscope Records, according to the article, and, in 2019 was one of two artists chosen by fast-food chain McDonald’s to be part of a philanthropic campaign, representing their hometowns by partnering with a local charity and performing concerts.

His posthumously released final album, “Legends Never Die,” was the No. 1 album in the United States for two consecutive weeks, according to an August 2020 Tribune article.

Higgins had been open on social media as well as in media interviews and his music about his struggles with drug use, according to the article.

Following her son’s death, Wallace established Live Free 999, a nonprofit intended to “support programs that provide preventive measures and positive avenues to address mental health challenges and substance dependency,” according to its website.

“It really was started after his fans were reaching out to me to say how much his music helped them,” Wallace said Friday.

She said she was looking to buy an investment property in Homewood and initially considered the shuttered Vice District Brewing, 18027 Dixie Highway.

“It just wasn’t big enough for what we had in mind,” she said.

She and Homewood officials worked out an agreement last year under which she bought the former Bogart’s Charhouse for $1. The village had acquired the property from Cook County through a no-cash bid, and the building was demolished last year.

Wallace said the restaurant was among her favorites.

“I loved Bogart’s,” she said. “I was disappointed it closed.”

Wallace said that she and Robert Lauderdale, Homewood Brewing’s executive chef, have worked on recipes for some time, and both said that the farm-to-table plan is already in the works.

With many restaurants and brewpubs already in the south and southwest suburbs, consistency in the food will be a key to Homewood Brewing’s success, Wallace said.

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“People should have that expectation of consistency in the food every time they sit down,” she said.

Lauderdale said he has been visiting farms and area farmers markets to talk with potential sources of products for the brewpub’s menu.

“We are on a very good path to make what we are trying to do successful,” he said after the groundbreaking.

Those talks have also included possible uses of the brewpub’s food waste, such as being converted into animal feed for farms, Lauderdale said.

The brewpub also plans to invite students into the restaurant and brewing operations to give them a sense of what goes on behind the scenes and perhaps sparking career thoughts, he said.

“We believe in creating opportunities,” Lauderdale said. “We’re here to help serve the community.”

mnolan@tribpub.com