A little help, please: Businesses say Hoffman Estates isn't doing enough

Business owners lured to a commercial development off Barrington Road because of plans to build a Meijer nearby say Hoffman Estates officials are not doing enough to promote the development now that plans for the superstore have stalled.

“It's been five years (since the restaurant opened). We've been under development for seven,” said Gregg Majewski, owner of Jerseys Pizza and Grill. “We have to do something; this whole idea of what this property was is gone. That's not happening in our near future.”

Businesses in the 55-acre development have struggled without a large anchor tenant like Meijer to help bring customers to Jerseys, Jimmy John's and the other restaurants. There are nine businesses left in the development, but if you're to believe Majewski, the number will drop next year.

Frustrations mounted last week as the Hoffman Estates village board turned down a request by the Morizzo family of South Barrington to open a funeral home in the vacant La Strada restaurant building.

“All we have is weeds behind us,” said Ron Greenberg, the Hoffman Estates Park District president who also owns the Jimmy John's in the development. “That whole development will go down if we don't get some new businesses, any type in there, that can raise traffic, generate some sales tax for the village.”

With interested tenants keeping away as the economy slumbers, existing businesses owners don't think the village has the luxury to reject anyone. They feel betrayed that Meijer never opened as expected, which would have brought hungry shoppers to feed.

La Strada's closing about 20 months ago further reduced traffic and exposure. Majewski fears Jerseys could soon follow suit.

Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi said there are no plans to open a store in Hoffman Estates at the moment.

That's no surprise to village officials. Village Manager James Norris said the company isn't as aggressively pushing for new stores because of the economy.

Meijer this year opened six stores including in Niles and in Southwest suburban Orland Park but one was a replacement as an older store was torn down.

The village attempted to bring in Costco as a substitute, but talks broke down about a year ago, Norris said. Hoffman Estates has received four other inquiries about the development, including two restaurants. Officials believe its location right off Barrington Road and the Northwest Tollway provides a prime location for a restaurant, not a funeral home.

“Who knows?” Norris said. “Maybe the restaurants come back.”

Meijer isn't looking actively to sell the property, Norris added. Businesses and potential patrons shouldn't expect anything significant in 2011 or maybe even 2012, he said.

Majewski, clearly frustrated by the wait, said it's only a question of Hoffman Estates offering the proper incentives to lure Meijer. At last week's meeting he threw out $10 million as the figure Hoffman Estates would need to pony up for Meijer to build.

Trustee Gary Pilafas said the village has already offered Meijer incentives that could exceed that amount.

“There's a question if they'd ever be able to reach them,” he said.

Norris didn't know where Majewski came up with his figure, but the village does have a history of offering incentives, most notably the $18 million performance-based incentive package given to Cabela's for its store near the Sears Centre.

Meijer's reluctance to build angers Trustee Raymond Kincaid.

“I'm frustrated with Meijer. I hope they could see what they are doing with this particular community in letting it go so long,” he said.

The board's vote doesn't necessarily mean an end to the funeral home plan. Its backers could return to the village with more financial data hoping it persuades trustees to change their minds.

Trustee Karen Mills asked for more detailed sales-tax projections for the village staff to verify. When La Strada closed in 2008, it was bringing in $40,000 in combined sales and food/beverage taxes. If the funeral home hosted 450 services, its backers say, it would bring in under $30,000 in sales tax per year.

While Mayor William McLeod doesn't think the funeral home is the best use for the plot, other board members said they want to be flexible. Even though some business owners felt the village board came off as harsh in the way it treated the funeral home officials, Pilafas said he didn't want the village to come off as anti-business.

Kincaid cast the only vote in favor of the funeral home plan. Though he initially believed the funeral home would be out of place, he was surprised that other business owners backed the plan, believing their own businesses would improve.

“I felt it was better than sitting vacant,” Kincaid said. “In this economy, I just don't know how long it will remain vacant.”