Demolition clears way for Meijer in Round Lake Beach shopping center
Characterized by a tired and largely vacant shopping center and a perennial traffic bottleneck, the area near Rollins Road and Route 83 in Round Lake Beach for years has been a source of frustration for village officials.
But both issues are nearing resolution as a major roadwork project wraps up and a retail revival project gets underway. The pending completion of the Rollins Gateway construction and the demolition of the Mallard Creek shopping center - to make way for a Meijer store - also are expected to attract interest from other ventures.
"It settles two major questions businesses would have," said Jon Wildenberg, the village's director of economic development.
Since August 2013, drivers have been dealing with the most expensive and complicated road project undertaken by Lake County. But the recent start of demolition at nearby Mallard Creek had Mayor Richard Hill posting on Facebook.
"This is a great opportunity for Round Lake Beach to shine again," he said Wednesday as demolition continued at the former Walmart store, which once anchored the center with Dominick's. Walmart left in 2008 and built a bigger store in another part of town and Dominick's closed in 2009, leaving the center with gaping holes.
Once road construction began, the center built during the 1960s and rebuilt in the late 1980s was all but finished. That changed when the Michigan-based Meijer announced it wanted to build its first store in Lake County on the 21-acre site.
Village officials last summer approved an agreement for a 192,940-square-foot grocery/general merchandise store with a garden center and gas station.
As part of the deal, the village bought the former Walmart property and gave it to Meijer. The village also will share a portion of the sales tax proceeds with the company.
Demolition began in earnest about two weeks ago and is expected to continue through April. Meijer will tear out and replace the parking lot and install utilities.
Wildenberg said construction will take about a year, and Meijer is expected to open in fall 2016.
"It's pretty exciting to see the buildings coming down," he said.
Midwest Real Estate Equities Inc. retains ownership of two parcels: One with a small office building on the southwest part of the site and a vacant triangle-shaped piece on the southeast.
All but two of the businesses in the center have relocated, according to Hill. In the bigger picture, sales tax revenues dipped about 20 percent during the road work but have recently rebounded.
The Rollins Gateway project involves lowering Rollins Road beneath the railroad tracks immediately west of Route 83 that carry as many as 50 commuter and freight trains a day. It also includes widening the intersection, realigning Hainesville Road and other improvements.
Crews are installing water and sewer pipes and are expected to begin paving the eastern lanes of Route 83 by mid-April as the last major portion of work.
"We're still kind of targeting to have everything finished by the end of June," said Mark Molnar, resident engineer for Alfred Benesch & Co., which is overseeing the work for Lake County. "We'll have the new lanes of traffic open before then."
The scheduled completion had been in December, but an extension was granted due to delays relocating utilities and switching train service from the temporary to permanent track that were beyond the contractor's control, according to county officials.
"Considering the scale of the project and its complexity, everything went reasonably well," Molnar said.