Grocery store plan in Wheeling moving ahead

The Fresh Farms grocery store owner has another shot at redeveloping the site in Wheeling after years of encountering roadblocks.

Dean Svigos, who owns the property at Dundee Road and Milwaukee Avenue, wants to increase retail at the site from 30,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet, along with quadrupling the parking. He'd expand the grocery and add a bank branch.

Previously, plans had been held up because of four houses near the property. The village had agreed to talk to the owners and buy the homes with tax increment financing money, but the owners didn't agree to it.

The board decided that it didn't want to pursue forced acquisition of the property, so Svigos returned on Tuesday with plans that didn't include those areas.

The site plan has also gone through many iterations since 2000 as Svigos and the village tried to find the best fit for it.

"Everything about this strip retail center screams redevelopment," said Peter Theodore, architect for the project.

He said Svigos wants to add more trees and move buildings closer to Milwaukee Avenue.

Trustee Robert Heer said he had concerns about the one-way traffic on Wille Avenue, since drivers are prone to making that a two-way street. Theodore said he and Svigos will work with the plan commission to make the traffic pattern clearer.

Heer also said he wasn't happy with the prospect of another bank in town.

"We seem to [be] becoming the bank capital of the world," he said.

However, other board members said they didn't see much of a problem with another bank in town.

"With an anchor like Fresh Farms, this center will do well," Trustee Ken Brady said.

The idea will go to the plan commission for further reviews before it returns to the village board for final approval.