For decades, the Fox Chain O’Lakes was known mainly as a boating destination — a place Chicagoans drove to on summer weekends, spent the day on the water, and left. The towns around the lakes were functional but quiet. The restaurants were casual. The housing stock was aging. Nobody was calling it a growth area.
That’s changing. Over the past few years, a wave of new investment has started reshaping the communities around the Chain O’Lakes, and 2025 and 2026 are shaping up as turning points. From multimillion-dollar housing developments and waterway restoration to new restaurants and revitalized public spaces, the region is building toward something bigger than a summer boating scene. Here’s what’s happening and what’s coming.
New housing is arriving — and it’s needed
Fox Lake broke ground in late 2025 on The Quarry, a 154-unit market-rate apartment complex at Route 12 and Big Hollow Road. It’s a $41 million development by Charles Hall Construction and Sterling Hall, designed to address what Lake County calls the “missing middle” — people who earn too much for subsidized housing but can’t find quality apartments in the area. The townhome-style units will offer one- and two-bedroom options, with over 55 percent featuring attached garages, plus a clubhouse, fitness center, dog park, and walking paths. First units are expected to open in September 2026.
Close behind it is the Lakeview Apartments project, a 148-unit, three-story apartment building that received village approval with a total investment expected to exceed $34 million. Together, The Quarry and Lakeview represent nearly 300 new housing units in Fox Lake alone — a significant expansion for a village that has long needed more options for young professionals, downsizing retirees, and families who want to live near the lakes without buying a house.
Lake County Partners, the county’s economic development arm, named 2025 its best year on record. Across the county, the organization helped fuel $633 million in new capital investment, with Fox Lake specifically called out as one of the communities seeing new residential development momentum. Site Selection Magazine recognized the county as one of the top ten in the nation for economic development — out of more than 3,100 counties evaluated.
Lakefront Park: a $12.5 million statement
Fox Lake’s most visible transformation is Lakefront Park, the $12.5 million renovation that turned a tired municipal park into one of the best public spaces in northern Illinois. Completed in phases through 2024 and 2025, the park now features an outdoor amphitheater, a state-of-the-art playground, an interactive splash pad, outdoor pickleball courts, a nature play area, new restroom facilities, improved parking, and the only public swimming beach on the entire Chain O’Lakes.
The amphitheater has already become a centerpiece for village events, hosting the Friday Night Concert Series in summer and serving as a venue for community gatherings year-round. The park sits on the shore of Nippersink Lake with panoramic water views, and it’s drawn attention from visitors who had never considered Fox Lake as a destination before.
The investment isn’t just about recreation — it’s a signal. When a village of Fox Lake’s size commits that kind of money to a public space, it tells developers, businesses, and prospective residents that the community is investing in itself.
The dining scene is leveling up
The restaurant story around the Chain used to be simple: bars, grills, and fish fry. That’s still here — and nobody wants it to go anywhere — but a new tier of dining has arrived that would have been hard to imagine five years ago.
15 Lakes Prime Steakhouse opened on Main Street in downtown Antioch in May 2024, bringing locally-sourced USDA Prime aged steaks, harissa-grilled octopus, foie gras, and a craft beer list featuring hyperlocal producers to a town better known for antique shops. The restaurant focuses on small producers within 100 miles, changes its menu regularly based on what’s fresh, and has quickly become one of the most talked-about restaurants in Lake County.
Pop’s Uptown Supper Club opened in Antioch around the same time, adding a seafood-forward, upscale-casual concept to the Route 45 corridor. Black Lung Brewing Company launched in 2023 inside the historic Randolph Hotel in Fox Lake, combining craft beer production with a lakeside biergarten and prohibition-era atmosphere. McHenry Brewing Company revived an 1860s brewery name at the original Brewery Corner location in downtown McHenry.
These aren’t chains or franchises. They’re locally owned operations betting that the Chain O’Lakes market can support more than bar food — and so far, the bet is paying off.
The Fox Waterway Agency: protecting the asset
None of this development means anything if the lakes themselves aren’t healthy, and the Fox Waterway Agency has been quietly doing some of its most important work in years. The agency, which manages the 15 interconnected lakes and 30 miles of the Fox River from the Wisconsin border to the Algonquin Dam, estimates that approximately 100,000 cubic yards of new sediment enters the waterway system every year — enough to fill 30 Olympic swimming pools.
Dredging operations run continuously, removing silt from lakes, navigational channels, and homeowner channels to keep the waterway usable. The agency has completed major shoreline restoration projects using GeoTube technology at sites including Pape Island, Cooper’s Farm, and Chain O’Lakes State Park, securing eroding shorelines and restoring wetland habitat. In 2025, the Fox Waterway Agency made its biggest single acquisition in years, purchasing the historic Bauske’s Boat Marina for $2.4 million using state grants through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources — a move designed to expand its maintenance and restoration capacity.
As a non-taxing entity funded primarily by the sale of annual boating stickers and reclaimed topsoil from dredging operations, the agency operates on a lean budget relative to the scale of what it manages. But its work is the foundation everything else depends on. Clean, navigable water is the reason people come here, and it’s the reason new investment keeps arriving.
Antioch’s quiet downtown revival
Antioch has always called itself the “Gateway to the Chain O’Lakes,” and its downtown is starting to earn that title in new ways. Main Street now has over 100 shops, including a growing mix of boutiques, antique stores, coffee houses, and specialty food shops alongside the new restaurants. Recent additions include Polished Patina boutique and The Open Mic Coffee and Tea House, a combination music lounge, fine arts studio, and café. Sequoit Creek Park, a new 4.5-acre public space, opened in summer 2024 with modern amenities.
The village hosts a weekly farmers market in summer, a popular Food Truck FEASTival series, and community events at the outdoor bandshell. The PM&L Theatre runs live performances on Main Street. It’s the kind of walkable, eclectic downtown that draws visitors naturally — and it’s getting better each year.
What’s next
The Chain O’Lakes region is at an inflection point. The fundamentals have always been there — 7,100 acres of interconnected water, proximity to Chicago and Milwaukee, natural beauty that hasn’t been overdeveloped. What’s new is the intentional investment in making the surrounding communities worth visiting and living in year-round, not just during boating season.
Fox Lake’s comprehensive plan, updated in 2024, envisions continued growth around the Lakefront Park corridor, mixed-use development, and stronger connections between the village’s commercial areas and the waterfront. The vacation rental market continues to grow, bringing tourism dollars directly into residential neighborhoods. Lake County’s broader economic development momentum — $1.83 billion in direct investment over the past five years — is creating a rising tide that reaches all the way to the lakes.
There are challenges ahead. Managing growth without losing the character that makes these communities special is a balancing act every small lake town faces. Keeping the waterways healthy requires sustained investment. And the seasonal nature of the local economy means year-round viability still depends on building the kind of infrastructure — housing, dining, retail, events — that gives people reasons to come outside of summer.
But the trajectory is clear. The Fox Chain O’Lakes isn’t just a summer boating destination anymore. It’s becoming a place where people want to live, open businesses, and invest. And the next few years are going to show just how far that transformation goes.