Des Plaines gas station will be rebuilt

A gas station convenience store in Des Plaines will be rebuilt and expanded to include two tenant spaces for specialty food stores, officials said.

The Shell station on the southeast corner of Oakton Street and River Road will essentially double in size to 4,000 square feet, though an existing attached auto repair shop is not proposed to be rebuilt.

The city council this week agreed in a first reading vote to grant the project zoning variations.

"I wholeheartedly embrace this service station. It is a marked improvement over what was there," said 2nd Ward Alderman Jack Robinson, who added that he wants the owner to maintain the fence and property between the gas station and the adjacent condominium building.