Business Comings & Goings: Vitamin Shoppe Opening in Evergreen Park

Work has also been going on for several weeks to rebuild Franconello's in Beverly, which burned down last Labor Day.

A Vitamin Shoppe is scheduled to open on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 2501 W. 95th St. on the site of the former Theodore’s restaurant. The store will be about 3,500 square feet and is one of three new Vitamin Shoppes to open in Illinois this month. Hours will be Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For information, call 708-229-0370 or visit the company online at the Vitamin Shoppe. It was just a year ago that popular eatery Franconello’s Italian Restaurant burned down at 10222 S. Western Ave. in Beverly. Workers have been busy in recent weeks rebuilding the restaurant. Calls to the owner have not been returned, but this message was posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page on July 29: “We are in there …

• Photos (1)

The Evergreen Parker

Sound Off: What Can Be Done to Help Plaza Businesses With the Mall in Limbo?

Redeveloping the Plaza is one thing, but what can be done in the interim to help the businesses struggling to survive there?

Amid all the talk about what might happen at the Plaza, one fact sometimes gets forgotten: There are still businesses there. Not many, relative to the size of the mall, but there are some, and most of them are hanging on by their fingernails. These are small businesses run by people for whom the Plaza is one of the best options out there from a rent perspective. Bruce Provo, president of the Provo Group, which owned and operated the Plaza, has very little at this point to do with the future development of the site. The property has been foreclosed upon and he's running it at the request of the receiver. But Provo has been involved with the Plaza in one way or another for the past 33 years. He said he still cares about the owners of the …

• Photos (1)

The Evergreen Parker

If the Deal for the Plaza is Really Dead, It's Time to Regroup

Actually, it's been time to regroup since the first strip mall renderings were made public, but now, perhaps, an opportunity has presented itself

Bruce Provo, president of the entity that owned and operated The Plaza shopping center, told the Southtown Star on Monday Aug. 6 that a deal to acquire the struggling property out of foreclosure and redevelop it has fallen through. GMX Real Estate Group, in conjunction with the Janko Group, was to buy the mortgage on The Plaza, effectively taking control of the property, which is in foreclosure and under receivership. Neither GMX nor Provo returned calls made Tuesday, Aug. 7, seeking comment. If what Provo told the Southtown is true, that would seem to put The Plaza back at square one in terms of a turnaround plan. On its face, that sounds like a significant setback for The Plaza, and for village officials eager to hit the reset button on …

•  5 Comments
• Photos (1)

The Evergreen Parker

What Should Go Here: The Empty Lot at 99th and Kedzie

Another prominent corner location in the village awaits a business worthy of its location. What say you?

There is no "For Sale" sign on the empty lot on the southwest corner of Kedzie Avenue and 99th Street, but that doesn't mean we can't speculate about what should go there. It's been empty as long as anyone I know can remember. There's probably a reason for that, but I don't know offhand what it is. It's likely not even in play from a real estate perspective. Nevertheless, it is empty and it is a prominent location. There's nothing preventing us from using our collective imagination. In case you haven't walked or driven by, the other three corners of that intersection are occupied by Evergreen Park High School , a four-story multi-family building and a little strip mall with a 7-Eleven, Baskin-Robbins and a Chinese take-out restaurant. …

•  8 Comments
• Photos (3)