Tentative OK to Tinley incentives
Restaurant at South Street and 67th Court to get $300K
Tinley Park officials have given tentative approval to $300,000 in incentives for a restaurant that plans to occupy the street-level commercial space in a soon-to-open apartment development.
The village will initially provide the restaurant operator $230,000 to assist in building out about 6,900 square feet of space at the Boulevard at Central Station, a 165-unit apartment building directly south of the Oak Park Avenue Metra station.
The remaining $70,000 will come from sharing of sales tax revenue generated by the restaurant.
The restaurant will be at the corner of South Street and 67th Court, at the west end of the Boulevard.
Operator Ed Nemec, formerly a partner in the Dancing Marlin restaurant in Frankfort, is proposing an Italian-inspired tapas style menu with shareable small plates, along with a full bar, according to the village.
The initial phase will include a 35-seat restaurant with an outdoor dining area, while a second phase proposes a 140-seat banquet area.
Prepping the space for the restaurant is estimated to cost just under $2 million, according to the village.
Tinley Park’s Village Board gave initial approval to the incentives in a 4-2 vote Tuesday, with Trustees Cynthia Berg and Diane Galante opposing. Berg said she believed the $230,000 being paid upfront would be better spent assisting existing village businesses that have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Final approval is expected at the board’s April 13 meeting.
The Boulevard is expected to begin taking tenants sometime in May, according to an attorney for the developer.
The initial money will come from the village’s capital projects fund, with the fund being reimbursed by revenue generated in the New Bremen tax increment financing district, in which The Boulevard is located.
In the works for nearly 15 years, the Boulevard broke ground in fall 2019 and will contain 165 one- and two-bedroom apartments along with 30,000 square feet of commercial space at street level.
The project went through design changes over the years as the number of apartment units fluctuated and issues such as financing, the recession and negotiations over incentives led to delays.
Tinley Park and South Street Development, which is building the apartments, came to an agreement over a package of incentives worth a bit over $7.5 million. South Street Development’s principals are Robert Hansen and auto dealership owner Joseph Rizza.
Hansen built Tinley Pointe Center, a mixed-use building at 183rd Street and Convention Center Drive, just east of Harlem Avenue in Tinley Park, which combines commercial space on the ground floor with residential units above.
In Orland Park, Hansen is moving ahead with plans to build The Pointe, which will have 64 apartments and be built at the northwest corner of 143rd Street and Southwest Highway, just west of the Ninety7Fifty on the Park apartments near 143rd and LaGrange Road.