Grocer arriving in June on former Palatine Whole Foods site

Shoppers eager to browse the shelves at the new grocery store at the former Whole Foods location in Palatine can expect to see the doors open by the end of June.

Palatine village council members Monday voted to amend a redevelopment agreement with the owners of the Park Place Shopping Center, originally approved in the fall of 2022, to extend the completion deadline for the new Shop & Save Local Market in the center, located at 1365 N. Rand Road.

Despite substantial progress on the project, the renovation posed a series of challenges that prevented completion by the original Oct. 31, 2025 target date. The new date is June 30.

“I know they want to be open well before that,” Community Development Director Michael Jacobs told the council. “They are comfortable that they will be open by then, at the latest.”

Jacobs said the village was contacted before the original target date.

In an October letter to Jacobs, the grocer’s Chief Financial Officer, Eva Jakubowski, wrote, “The structural complexities associated with lifting the existing roof proved far more extensive and costly than originally anticipated.”

In addition, she wrote, rising steel prices and extended lead times significantly affected both scheduling and cost projections. As a result major design revisions were needed.

Jacobs added the previous redevelopment agreement involved different parties, which also posed challenges.

The new agreement reduced the amount of Tax Increment Financing assistance from the village, going from a maximum of $2.5 million to $2.1 million. The expenses are related to the facade improvements and interior build out and remodeling.

“The facade improvements are, for the most part, complete,” Jacobs said. “Right now, they're just working on the interior of the grocery store build out.”