Sunset Foods CEO says strike shouldn't delay Long Grove store
Sunset Foods President and CEO John Cortesi said Monday he is confident the ongoing construction workers' strike won't delay the planned January 2011 opening of the grocery store in Long Grove.
Work on the 48,000-square-foot store - part of the 141,000-square-foot Sunset Grove shopping center under construction at Route 83 and Aptakisic Road - halted along with several other projects throughout the area including the Eisenhower Expressway and the new Des Plaines casino.
The multi-county strike of road construction laborers began June 30, followed by heavy-equipment operators on July 1.
The 15,000 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and the Laborers' District Council of Chicago and Vicinity are disputing with contractors over pay levels and health benefit costs.
Construction of the Long Grove Sunset Foods' store, which will be the 73-year-old high-end grocer's fifth suburban location, is already a year behind because an earlier developer could not secure the financing needed for the shopping center project.
Sunset Grove was supposed to open in August 2009. But work on Sunset Foods only began this April.
"We hope for a quick resolution so we can get people back to work in tough economic times," Cortesi said. "The strike is certainly slowing things down but we are on schedule because we've had good weather to work in."
The store will anchor the $30 million shopping center, which also is stalled. In addition to the grocery, a CVS Pharmacy, Rosin Eyewear and Zengeler Cleaners are planned for the center, which will include 15 additional retailers.
"We're all affected by this," Cortesi said. "The economic environment today, people want to work. I'm sure (work) will resume quickly." A spokesman for the shopping center developer Lakewood Real Estate Solutions could not immediately be reached for comment.
Long Grove officials have long been expecting the project to fuel a tax increment financing district that would generate funds for the development itself, and fund infrastructure improvements in the historic business district, including lighting and drainage work.
Long Grove committed $3 million in TIF dollars to the development and also agreed to provide Sunset Foods with up to $1 million in sales tax rebates.
"Obviously, we are not pleased with the delay," Long Grove Village President Maria Rodriguez said. "It's just unfortunate at a time when there's so little work being done. We feel that Sunset Grove is an important project for the community. We feel it's an unnecessary delay."