Frankfort landed a retail center and a restaurant this week and likely rebuffed another business, but even bigger development news could be yet to come.
Mayor Jim Holland wouldn’t offer details but said a company is interested in the former Dominick’s store, 19965 LaGrange Road, that has been vacant since December 2013.
“There does seem to be a quality business that is moving ahead at this site,” Holland said. “We’re not at liberty yet to say who this is or the nature of the business.”
Frankfort has other grocers — including Jewel-Osco, a Walt’s Food Center and also a Mariano’s store near U.S. 30 and LaGrange Road that opened a few months before Safeway, Dominick’s parent company, announced plans to shutter the financially struggling Chicago-area chain.
Businesses requests were the focus at Monday night’s Village Board meeting. Trustees approving zoning changes for a new retail development and granted a liquor license for a Mokena restaurant’s move into the village, but they balked at another restaurateur’s bid for later hours and outdoor seating.
Trustees and two local residents expressed concern that Joji Tirumalareddy’s proposed Rhumbar, 10211 West U.S. 30, was an attempt to use a restaurant liquor license to put a bar too close to the Brookside subdivisions. Trustees voted down his request to stay open an hour later, until midnight, on Fridays and Saturdays, and they favored only half of his proposed outdoor seating.
“I was not treated fairly from the beginning,” Tirumalareddy told trustees after the votes. “I don’t want to close this place in six months, and I don’t want to lose my money, too.”
He complained that he would not be allowed to hang TVs in his dining room, and his bar would have to be separate from the dining area.
Holland, who as mayor is also the village’s liquor commissioner, explained that those are requirements for all restaurants and that less-restrictive tavern licenses are available for the downtown and in areas away from neighborhoods.
Neighbors who spoke Monday night worried that the business doesn’t have enough parking and that customers and staff might wake neighbors if they park on neighboring streets and leave after midnight.
Tirumalareddy did win approval of a restaurant liquor license, limited outdoor seating and a permit to have live music inside the restaurant, but he indicated that may not proceed with developing the property, which has been vacant for several years after last hosting Simply Smokin’ BBQ.
There was no such debate over a liquor license for Annie’s Cucina, an Italian restaurant owned by Charles and Annie Meza that’s moving from near the Front Street Metra station in Mokena to 9975 West U.S. 30.
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Trustees also approved zoning changes allowing Aetna Development Corp. to build a retail center at the southeast corner of LaGrange and St. Francis roads. The vote allowed for a 2.8-acre expansion of the previously planned development.
“This property is, right now, taxed as if it’s agriculture,” Holland said. “Once this property is built, there will be substantial income from this commercial development to our schools and parks and library and fire district and others.”
Patrick Guinane is a freelance reporter.