The Chicago Cubs won the World Series.
Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
And the vacant old Menards building on Ogden Avenue in Naperville is finally getting new occupants.
That was the gist of the message I fired back to the friend who first told me a grocery store would soon take up residence in “the old Menards building.”
Say those words – “old Menards building” – to anyone on the north end of town and they instantly know the desolate eyesore of which you speak. But now the old Menards at 1568 W. Ogden Ave. (before that it was a Kmart) will be vacant no more. It’s slated to open as a strip mall anchored by Indian grocery store Patel Brothers later this year.
For those who find sport in identifying such long shot occurrences as sure signs of the end times, you may not want to buy any green bananas.
When Patel Brothers opens in the 88,000-square-foot building at Ogden and Jefferson, it will mark the first time that building has had an occupant since September 2002.
Exactly how long that building has sat idle is seared into my memory. We bought our house in May 2002 and made more than a few trips to that Menards in our early months as new homeowners. Whether for garbage cans, ladders, paint or any number of other home-improvement items one quickly finds themselves needing after a new home purchase, it was almost literally just right around the corner. Self-driving cars weren’t yet a thing back then, but I’m sure ours quickly learned the route.
I still recall the mixed emotions I had upon learning Menards would be moving to their then-new home on Aurora Avenue and Fort Hill Drive late that summer, a considerably larger parcel they still occupy today. What I do not recall is the feeling of thinking what it would be like for that building to sit vacant for the next 15 years … because, like many, I could never have imagined that happening.
When a large retail tenant vacates a property, the feeling of loss inevitably turns to more optimistic thoughts — hopeful anticipation of what kind of business might take its place. At some point most of us likely gave up on the old Menards building. Thankfully, city leaders did not.
I recall the same emotions when Dominicks’s closed its stores in December 2013. Who among us figured that two of those Naperville locations would still be sitting vacant more than three years later? That includes one at the corner of Ogden and North Aurora Road, a short two miles up from the old Menards building.
I recall the excitement in early 2016 when a sign appeared proclaiming the site would soon be occupied by another store, Fresh Market, only to learn later the sign had mistakenly been placed at the wrong location. (Fresh Market ultimately didn’t end open at the “correct” Route 59 location, near 95th Street, either. The building the company constructed sits vacant as well.)
In addition to those vacant former Dominick’s buildings, there’s the Kmart on Ogden in the aging Iroquois Shopping Center. And the seemingly countless strip malls, office buildings and restaurants that have fallen victim to various market conditions and evolving shopping habits.
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While city leaders clearly want to fill these spaces, both for tax and aesthetic purposes, sometimes achieving that is no easy task. As was the case with the New Jersey-based owner of the old Menards building, compelling a property owner to sell, lease or otherwise fill a building is easier said than done.
That all changes in August, if Patel Brothers holds to its timeline. Parent company Raja Foods closed on the building last Thursday, and work began Friday to gut and rehab the building. Raja Foods will be in to the tune of just over $10 million between the purchase and building renovations, Raja President Rajesh Patel said when the development was announced last week.
That’s not just a lot of money to fill a long vacant property, it’s also a commitment to the surrounding neighborhood and the city as a whole. Patel Brothers will occupy 39,000 square feet of the building, leaving nearly another 50,000 for other businesses, such as restaurants, salons and a jewelry store, according to Swetal Patal of Raja Foods.
Here’s hoping the momentum doesn’t stop there.
Rob Manker is a freelance writer who lives and parents in Naperville.
Twitter: @RobManker