Ultra Foods in Prospect Heights closing March 1

Prospect Heights' Ultra Foods is closing March 1 after about two years in business, the city's mayor confirmed Wednesday.

The grocery store at 1241 N. Rand Road took the place of a Dominick's that shuttered more than 10 years ago.

Prospect Heights Mayor Nick Helmer said the store's regional manager notified him Monday that the store would be closing.

"Their name isn't well-recognized even though they have a very nice store in Lombard," Helmer said. "The name recognition did not do them well, and the size of the store was just too big."

Ultra Foods spent about $13 million to renovate the 87,000-square-foot building before its January 2014 opening. Store officials couldn't be reached for comment.

The news comes in the wake of Joe Caputo & Sons closing former Dominick's locations in Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights and Northbrook.

Helmer said Ultra aimed to keep prices lower and there were sometimes complaints about produce not being as fresh as it was in other area grocery stores.

"They tried very hard, but the bottom line was they were losing money," Helmer said.

The city is already working with the owner of the Ultra building to bring in another grocery store that is "more upscale and has better name recognition," he said.

The store will likely be remodeled so that the new occupant has a smaller space to work with, he said.

The Ultra store's new potential client "has been looking at the space for a number of months," Helmer said. He will meet with the potential tenant Monday and has a verbal commitment from an attorney that the tenant is interested in the space, he said.

It is unclear at this point whether the new tenant will seek the same sales tax sharing agreement Prospect Heights had with Ultra Foods. In the deal struck to help attract Ultra Foods to the site, the grocery store got half the city's share of sales tax for 15 years. With the deal, each party was expected to bring in $2.9 million over the 15-year period.