New tenants for Wheaton Jewel site lining up
It could be months before the "for sale" sign is posted outside the former Jewel Food Store in downtown Wheaton.
Still, city leaders say potential buyers already are lining up.
Councilman Tom Mouhelis said he's met with representatives from a national supermarket chain interested in acquiring the vacant 19,500-square-foot building along Willow Avenue. There's also a local grocer who might make an offer on the property, Mouhelis said. He declined to reveal specifics.
Mouhelis made the remarks during a candidate interview this week with the Daily Herald after his political opponent in the Wheaton City Council race said the city should do almost anything to ensure the site is redeveloped as a grocery store.
The downtown Jewel closed last February after more than four decades in operation. At the time, it needed a great deal of work and was landlocked, missing the space Jewel-Osco considered essential, company officials said.
"That grocery store was a lifesaver, and everybody completely misses it," said Jeanne Ives, who is trying to unseat Mouhelis in the East District. "We need to do whatever it takes, almost, to get a grocery store in there."
But Mouhelis says finding a replacement grocer shouldn't be a problem.
Paying his own traveling expenses, he said, Mouhelis recently flew out to California to tour a two-story supermarket similar to the one that the national chain would like to bring to downtown Wheaton - either at the former Jewel site or the existing Hubble Middle School property.
"They are committed to build this facility," he said. "They've already done the marketing research."
The 22-acre Hubble site at Naperville and Roosevelt roads won't become available for redevelopment for at least two years, officials said.
And before anything can happen at the former Jewel site, CVS Caremark Corp. and Supervalu Inc. - Jewel-Osco's parent company - must sort out their co-ownership of the property.
On Wednesday, a Jewel-Osco spokeswoman said Supervalu plans to acquire CVS' share of the site and become the property's sole owner in the next couple months.
At that point, Supervalu plans to sell the property. Karen May, a communications manager with Jewel-Osco, said the company has no restrictions that would prevent another grocer from buying the site.
Mayor Mike Gresk said representatives from Supervalu would like to meet with city officials soon after the deal is finalized to discuss marketing and redevelopment options for the parcel.
In the meantime, Gresk said he shares Mouhelis' optimism that a replacement grocer can be found, in part, because so many Wheaton residents live within walking distance of the site.
"If someone - a full-service grocery store - did their marketing homework," he said, "they would see that this is a good buy."