CarMax To Build In Joliet Along Route 59

JOLIET, IL — Joliet's Route 59 is quickly transforming into a car buyer's paradise. Construction is well underway for the new Hawk Auto dealership at Caton Farm Road and Route 59. Now, Joliet has landed CarMax. The nation's largest dealer of used cars intends to build a dealership at the northeast corner of Route 59 and Theodore Street, Joliet Patch has learned.

CarMax plans to build its car dealership on the empty parcel near the Family Video store. It would be on the east side of Route 59, facing the LA Fitness, which is on the west side of Route 59.

According to city documents, the Joliet CarMax would create 20 to 30 new full-time jobs for Joliet, generate property improvements between $10 million and $11 million, plus nearly $2.6 million in retailer occupation tax money over a 15-year period.

But to see any tax revenue, the city would need to annex the land.

"As this property is not currently within the Joliet's city limits, it is generating zero dollars in property taxes for the city of Joliet," a memo on the city's economic development committee meeting agenda reads. "The property will be annexed into the city of Joliet."

The CarMax development is on the agenda for next week's city Economic Development Committee. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9.