Foley-Rice asks for delay on landmark designation
Oak Park is looking to label an E.E. Roberts-designed auto dealership on Madison Street as a local landmark. But owners of the building recently asked to delay that process for the fifth time.
The village wants to designate 644 Madison St.-commonly referred to as the “Packard building”-as a local historic landmark. The Oak Park architect E.E. Roberts designed and built it in 1924. Roberts and his son, Elmer, added an addition in 1927. As a local landmark, whoever owns the building would need to go before Oak Park’s Historic Preservation Commission for permission to demolish or alter the building’s exterior.
The commission was set to discuss 644 Madison at its meeting last week. However, owner Terry Rice asked the village to delay that process for 90 days, said Doug Kaarre, urban planner. Rice wants more time to sell the property before it’s designated a landmark.
A call to Rice’s attorney was not returned by deadline. The Packard building, and three other nearby properties on Madison, have been vacant and up for sale since Foley-Rice Cadillac closed in the summer of 2007.
Kaarre said this was the fifth delay requested by Rice since the landmark process started a year ago. The owner hopes a potential buyer will take the building through the landmark process, he added. There is no limit to the number of times the process can be delayed.
“What we hope is that they find a buyer, and we move forward with preserving and reusing it,” Kaarre said. “The commission has been cooperating with the applicant to hopefully make a sale easier.”
The preservation commission also wants to add the building to the National Register of Historic Places.
Foley-Rice still owes Oak Park $400,000-which was paid to the dealership in 2005 out of the Madison TIF-as part of a business retention agreement. That money was intended to help the dealership fix up its auto body shop building on the south side of Madison.
Village Manager Tom Barwin said the owner plans to pay that loan back upon selling the south property, 711 Madison St. The business retention agreement says 711 Madison must remain a new car dealership until 2012. However, the village is in the process of releasing Foley-Rice from that requirement when it receives the $400,000 payment, Barwin said.
Everyone from Fenwick High School to the park district and local theater groups have explored buying some of Foley-Rice’s properties. Most recently, District 97 is considering 711 Madison for new headquarters and warehouse facilities, Wednesday Journal reported last month.
Trader Joe’s opening in spring?
The Dec. 5 opening date for the Oak Park Trader Joe’s cited last week was more than likely too optimistic.
At a village board meeting last week, Bill Anderson, captain of store openings for Trader Joe’s, said the grocery store chain was looking to open by Dec. 5. Their store is slated to open on the ground floor of the Whiteco building, Ontario Street and Harlem Avenue.
However, that date is unlikely to happen. Trader Joe’s is “scheduled” to open the store some time between January and March of next year, according to corporate spokesperson Alison Mochizuki. She could not explain the discrepancy in the two dates, did not know whether construction of Whiteco’s residential portion has had any impact on the grocer’s opening date, or if Trader Joe’s has started looking for employees for its Oak Park location.
-Marty Stempniak