This flip wasn't a flop: After buying it for $2.8 million, Hanover Park selling shopping center for $7.25 million
Hanover Park officials' faith that they could restore the once blighted Hanover Square Shopping Center has been rewarded.
The village is expected to close on a deal Jan. 12 to sell the shopping center along Barrington Road to Wayne-based SIAINC LLC for $7.25 million.
The sale will occur about 12 years after the village used $2.8 million in tax increment financing (TIF) funds to acquire the more than 9-acre property in December 2011.
Hanover Square consists of two buildings, with the smaller in the northeast corner, totaling 113,565 square feet south of Walnut Avenue and north of Maple Avenue.
As a staple throughout the village's history, Mayor Rod Craig said he and other town leaders chose to restore the struggling retail center, even though tearing it down for redevelopment might have seemed a more viable option at the time.
Repairs were needed from floor to roof, but they were done without remaining tenants having to vacate or close.
"We really turned it around," Craig said. "It was really bad when we got it."
Craig said the finished product is something the village can be proud of, though such a project isn't the primary area of expertise for a municipality.
"We put a lot of money into it, but the time has come for us to step aside," he added.
Besides renovations, landing prominent new tenants also helped build a future for Hanover Square, which is now nearly 80% occupied. They include Gymkhana Gymnastics, the Education and Work Center, Briana's Pancake House, El Nayarita Restaurant, El Patron Taqueria & Grill, Pizza Now, Herbalife Fit Club, and Vohra Tax & Accounting.
They join businesses that have remained through the upgrades, including Dino's Fresh Market, Rosy's Beauty Salon, Hanover Quick Wash Laundromat, State Farm, Legacy Medical Care, Chang Brothers Taekwondo Academy, Little Bear Day Care, Harris Chiropractic, Aerus Electrolux and Star Dental.
The longest-remaining tenant is Hanover Barber Shop, which marked its 60th anniversary last month and is recognized as the oldest business still operating in Hanover Park. According to a village proclamation, Tony Perri opened the shop in Hanover Square in 1963, after moving from the South Side of Chicago the year before.
Perri retired in 2001 and the shop's day-to-day management was taken over by fellow barber Tony Ruffolo, who assumed full responsibility for the business after Perri's death the next year. Ruffolo is planning to retire at the end of the year, village officials said.