New Mount Prospect business gets village help on rehab expenses

A Mount Prospect business in the Emerson building downtown will receive $10,000 from the village for facade improvement and interior build out.

Edible Arrangements, 110 S. Emerson, which took over the space formerly occupied by Vino 100, is part of a chain that specializes in such items as fresh fruit floral-type arrangements and fruit boxes featuring dipped strawberries and bananas, among other delicacies.

Community Development Director William Cooney said the business has spent the better part of the year renovating the facility and just opened. The owner spent more than $70,000 on the build out, Cooney said.

"The facility looks great," Cooney said. "It will be a great addition to the downtown."

The village will reimburse Edible Arrangements for $10,000 of the work, using money drawn from the facade rebate program funded through the downtown tax increment financing district.

Darren Zheng, the owner of Edible Arrangements, spoke to the board at Tuesday's meeting.

"We are very happy to be here in Mount Prospect," he said. "It was a long journey for us to build out the space, but we love the spot. Downtown Mount Prospect will be a very good spot for us."

"They're really going beyond (event) centerpieces," said Mayor Arlene Juracek, who recently attended a ribbon cutting. "You can get smoothies and salads and parfaits and all kinds of neat things there."