Former Steffi’s site in Collinsville receives liquor license

by Randy Pierce • Operation of a business formerly known as Steffi’s, which was previously subject to code violations and those have since been addressed, in unincorporated Collinsville is moving forward with the approval of the issuance of a 2026 Class A liquor license.

At a meeting of the Madison County Board Public Safety Committee held earlier this month, unanimous support was given to the issuance of the license to the owners of a restaurant at 3125 Fairmont Avenue. 

Previously delaying the license approval, the owners were cited for an accumulation of junk and debris at the property west of Black Lane and north of Collinsville Road in Nameoki Township but received a special-use permit back in November after going through the appropriate hearing procedure before the Madison County Zoning Board of Appeals and the county board building and zoning committee.

At this month’s public safety committee meeting, it was pointed out that all of the previous code violations have received corrective attention by owners Sukhwinder Singh and Gurdip Kaur who had acquired the property on behalf of the Collinsville Express Limited Liability Company. 

Previously, complications developed when the public safety committee learned that an individual named Kinnarkumar Patel was listed as the person seeking reinstatement of liquor licenses for not only this Collinsville business but also similar ones in Granite City and Cottage Hills, with the committee postponing a decision until December.

Further complicating the situation was the failure of the restaurant and bar owners to turn into the county proof of dram shop liability insurance coverage as required. 

In describing the properties in question as “problematic,” Chris Doucleff, county building and zoning administrator, added that the liquor licenses for those businesses had been pulled earlier in 2025 because they were barely opened at all over 90-day period of time despite a county ordinance requiring they operate at least five days a week, five hours a day. 

Doucleff also told the committee members the state of Illinois Gaming Board had taken video gambling machines from one or more of the three applicable buildings because of vandalism and theft issues occurring with them. 

On a more positive note, after explaining, “We’ve had them under constant violation for property maintenance” problems, Doucleff said Patel and others involved have “worked hard to come into compliance with all the violations but also, per the county ordinance, you cannot owe the county a dollar or a penny, so we made him pay all the liens that we had on him, all the fines and any back taxes” and all of those have been settled.

A liquor license had been issued previously and was good only until the end of December so this month’s action, to include final approval by the county board at its meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, extends it through Dec. 31, 2026.