Yes, CVS Is Still Coming (and Other New Lenox Business Questions, Answered)

NEW LENOX, IL — When word got out last month that CVS could be one of a few retailers to close up several shops in Illinois, New Lenox residents wanted to know: what about ours?

A new CVS location is slotted to open at Cedar Road and Route 30, the cornerstone of a long-touted strip of retail also set to include a local bakery and a restaurant/pub.

The company is eyeing closing 70 stores early this year, with plans to eliminate roughly 300 jobs and close 200 stores overall, equal to about 5 percent of its outlets, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But they're still coming to New Lenox, Mayor Tim Baldermann reassures residents. They'll build up on the lot that formerly held the BP, a plot that CVS purchased from the village for $1.8 million last year.

"The plan is for construction to begin as soon as the weather breaks," Baldermann told Patch.

"Site plans are moving forward," he added, noting that local Fleckenstein's bakery and Durbin's are also both ready to get rolling with construction in the spring.

The Cillage spent an estimated $2.9 million to scoop up the former gas station as well as a dry cleaners, a bar and the crumbling House of Hughes restaurant. The buildings were demolished to make room for incoming retail, a push to revitalize the downtown area along Rte. 30.

Baldermann asks for patience as the plans come to fruition.

"It's better than looking at the abandoned House of Hughes restaurant, and the Pit Stop," Baldermann said of the current vacant plots.

What's going on at the old Papa Joe's?

The owners of one New Lenox restaurant hit a few unexpected snags in their plans to reinvent the defunct Papa Joe's, Baldermann said, but they're still in.

Les Brothers, which also owns Williamson's Restaurant and Bar, 1490 W. Maple St., was previously operating in the Williamson's location. They snatched up the pizzeria property with the vision to reopen as Les Brothers. Initial plans included renovations, but once inside, the new owners found a situation that instead required teardown and rebuild. The Village has signed off on final plans, and now it's a waiting game, Baldermann said.

"As far as being able to move forward, there’s no holdup from the Village," Baldermann said. "They were waiting on some steel, and now their problem is weather-related. It’s just a matter of their contractor getting the steel."

Baldermann is thrilled to see a business owner not only thriving in one spot on U.S. 30, but breathing new life into another.

"We’re grateful that the people from Williamson’s were willing to reinvest in the community," he said. "They’re a family, not a big corporation."

"If not, we’d be looking at an empty Papa Joe’s restaurant for five years. ... None of us likes seeing it the way that it is, but it’s better than the alternative of no one being interested."

Oh, and how about Menards? When's that happening?

Menards still wants in to New Lenox, Baldermann said, but it's a matter of timing.

"Even though they’ve sold off other parcels they have, they are holding on to the New Lenox parcel," Baldermann said.

The discount superstore chain has a plot of land near Walmart, 501 E. Lincoln Hwy. It's often more affordable for the company to scoop up a building and retrofit for its needs, but in New Lenox, they will build from scratch, Baldermann noted.

"Menards has to look at it and see when the housing market has rebounded enough to justify the expense of coming out of the ground," he said.

The village saw an estimated 180 new housing starts last year, but in the prime of the housing market, that number tallied closer to 350 or 360, Baldermann said.

"Housing starts have been depressed for so long, the timing has to be right for that."

Any nibbles on the old Kmart?

Yep. "At least one, if not two" parties have been interested, Baldermann said.

The New Lenox KMart, 1490 W. Maple St., shuttered in late December, along with 63 other stores across 28 states.

Baldermann noted two offers have been put in on the property, but could not specify by whom.

"That’s between them and the owners of Kmart," he said. But he's hopeful that the prospective buyers have specific tenants in mind to take over the space.

"Typically, somebody’s not going to spend that kind of money to purchase that kind of property if they didn’t have interested tenants.

"We won’t know until one of those offers is accepted, what tenants those developers are looking to bring in."

The deserted TJs is depressing. Any hope for that?

TJs is a tricky spot, Baldermann said.

"There’s such limited parking," he said. "What type of business can you put there with limited parking?"

A group of doctors once sought to open a high-end wine and liquor store in the space previously occupied by the bar, 222 W. Maple St. But that fell through. He hopes the development of Cedar and Rte. 30 will help spur additional business growth in the vicinity.

A mayor who is very visible and vocal on social media, he fields many questions and concerns about blighted properties.

"Sometimes people don’t understand, the Village just can’t make those things happen," he said. "If someone owns that property, and doesn’t sell it, there’s very little we can do."

He noted the Village's $3 million purchase of the swath of land alongside the Metra station near U.S. 30 and Cedar Road as a strategy aimed at assembling the land necessary for incoming retail developments.

"We got involved in (Rte.) 30 and Cedar, because we had that abandoned building in the middle of it," he noted, "and if someone had purchased that lot, it would have made it impossible."

Any lack of movement in business development isn't for lack of trying, he said.

Like drawing in a new proprietor for the vacant TJ's, it's about finding the right fit for the local business community.

"It’s not that the Village isn’t interested in seeing that develop," he said, "it’s that it has to make sense."