Sam's Club announces intent to move to Lombard

Sam's Club has agreed to move forward with a proposed store in Lombard, village officials announced Thursday.

The company reached a tentative agreement with Hamilton Partners, Oakridge Realty and the village to proceed with the development of a new 135,000-square-foot store and gas station at 611 E. Butterfield Road.

The vacant property is located behind a TGI Fridays restaurant and next to the Embassy Suites of Lombard/Oak Brook, near the southeast corner of Butterfield Road and Fairfield Avenue.

Village Manager Scott Niehaus said there are still a lot of steps that have to be taken before the store is given a final approval, but he believes having one of the world's largest companies show an interest in Lombard "legitimizes that we are a thriving community that can support the activity."

"We think it would be something that would help stabilize our tax base moving forward, in terms of the revenue it would bring to the village," he said, adding that it will provide a new shopping opportunity for citizens of Lombard and surrounding towns.

Bill Heniff, director of community development, added that he is excited to see the project move forward because it's been "a long time coming."

"In fact, this has probably been about five years in the making, from initial discussion with the property owner as to what could be done on the property, going all the way to having some initial discussions with Sam's Club potentially coming to Lombard," he said. "We currently do not have a big box, commercial store like that in the community, so it's filling a market niche that currently exists."

A concept plan for the store will be presented during a plan commission workshop session at 7:30 p.m. on April 27 at village hall. Village officials will also solicit some initial input and comments from the plan commissioners during the meeting.

The project cannot move forward until it is reviewed through a public hearing process and receives final zoning and incentive agreement approvals from the village board.

Dates for future meetings will be determined as the project advances.