Retail building to replace former Giordano's in Lake Zurich?

Lake Zurich village trustees are expected to decide next week on a plan to replace a vacant restaurant at Route 22 and Rand Road with a new retail building that could host a smaller eatery and other businesses.

Chicago-based GW Properties wants to build retail space for three or four tenants in place of the former Giordano's on the busy intersection's southwest corner. GW executive Mitch Goltz and others have called the Giordano's an eyesore.

Goltz said he's already talked to representatives from Chipotle Mexican Grill and LensCrafters about the chains possibly moving into the planned structure.

"We've been working with (the Lake Zurich) staff over the last several months to come up with a plan that conforms with the various objectives of the city as well as tenants," he said.

Despite concerns about parking near an inner road from the neighboring Village Square mall, Lake Zurich's advisory planning and zoning commission recommended the project at a mid-December meeting. The Lake Zurich village board is expected to hold a final vote on the proposal Monday night.

Goltz said an 8,300-square-foot retail building would go on the spot where the stand-alone, 6,600-square-foot Giordano's had operated until moving into a Village Square storefront in 2014. Plans call for 15 parking spaces for the new building near an inner road that loops around Village Square.

John Alan Sfire, whose Fidelity Group Ltd. owns Village Square and other developments in Lake Zurich, said while he's in favor of getting rid of the Giordano's, the building proposed by GW Properties would be too big. While speaking before the planning and zoning commission, Sfire referred to a line he said his father used in the grocery business.

"One of the things he always told me is it's impossible to get a hundred pounds of potatoes in a 50-pound bag," Sfire said.

Sfire also contended the 15 parking spaces for GW's proposed building would create an unsafe situation by forcing drivers to back out toward the inner road at Village Square. Drivers often speed on the road while using it as a cut-through from Route 22 to Rand Road, he said.

Lake Zurich's acting manager of building and zoning, Sam Hubbard, said a police review did not cite any safety concerns with the retail building's parking plan. He said problems could be alleviated with "common sense and careful driving," which drew a reaction from planning and zoning commission member Antonio Castillo.

"I gotta tell you, a lot of people driving through that (Village Square) place are millennials or younger," said Castillo, who opposed GW's proposal. "They don't think. They're texting already. They're already on their phones. They're just driving through there."

Monday's village board meeting will start at 7 p.m. at village hall, 70 E. Main St.