Second grocery store nearing debut in Grayslake
Grocery store competition that vanished in Grayslake in 2013 is about to return.
Mayor Rhett Taylor said Butera Market should open in late March or early April in a shopping plaza space on the southeast corner of Atkinson Road and Center Street previously occupied by another supermarket.
As part of the effort to bring Butera into the vacant space, the Grayslake village board Tuesday night approved an economic development incentive package potentially worth $750,000. At least $6.2 million in private investment will be made for the remodeled building, officials said.
Jewel-Osco on Route 120 has been without competition in the village since Farmers Market Place closed at Atkinson and Center in 2013. Grayslake officials said not only will Butera provide another supermarket choice, but also an improved look at a visible corner.
"It's certainly a corner that was in the need of redevelopment," Village Manager Mike Ellis said. "And so, that's a highly competitive thing to get redevelopment, in particular on sites that have been in decay for a while. And this site was in decay."
Under the agreement with Grayslake, Butera will receive an initial payment of $195,000 after May 1, provided it opens on schedule and completes building improvements. The store will operate in a space expanded from 28,000 to 34,000 square feet.
Up to $555,000 will be available to Butera over 10 years in a sales tax sharing agreement with the village. Butera must return all public money if it closes or moves from the shopping center within 10 years of its debut.
Grayslake Trustee Shawn Vogel and other elected officials said the deal offers important protections for the village.
"They have to perform to get their sales-tax rebate," Vogel said. "So, if they don't perform, they don't get anything."
Butera is expected to create 70 to 80 full- and part-time jobs. Annual sales are projected at $8 million to $9 million, according to the village.
Ellis said the financial incentives crafted for Butera won't change Grayslake's rare status as a debt-free municipality.
"We've got money freed up to do things like this," he said.
Michael Stewart, managing director of the Grayslake Business Partnership, helped negotiate the deal with Butera. The partnership is a nonprofit, public-private economic development group with involvement from the village.
Piggly Wiggly operated at Center and Atkinson from 1993 to mid-December 2012. Farmers Market Place opened a few months later and closed in November 2013.