Business & Tech
Retail, Entertainment, Restaurant All Possibilities for Former Borders
If one business does not fill the building, offices could go on the second floor, says an Edwards Realty official.
If the former Borders store in La Grange is subdivided—with offices on the second floor—a store, restaurant or entertainment enterprise are some for the possibilities being explored by the building owner for the first floor.
Splitting businesses between floors, rather than have one business occupy both floors, is not easy, said Ramzi Hassan, vice president of Edwards Realty Co. in Orland Park, which owns the shopping center. “It’s better than the whole building being vacant for a long time.”
Part of La Grange Crossing, the Borders store at 1 N. LaGrange Road, closed Sept. 15, a victim of the company's nationwide bankruptcy.
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“We’ve been marketing the property. We’ve been soliciting offers. Nothing is set yet,” Hassan said about the Borders building.
Patrick Benjamin, director, said he will meet this week with Hassan to consider a potential tenant. He declined to say who that might be.
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Hassan said it often takes a tenant a while to inspect the property and make a decision whether to rent. “It’s pretty wide open right now. It will all shake out in a month or two.”
An Internet listing by Mid-America Asset Management Inc. for La Grange Crossing says a 21,000-square-foot anchor position is available, and the owner is willing to subdivide.
La Grange has restrictions on what can go on the first floor of that building, Hassan sad. “We can put an office on the second floor. We’ll try retail, entertainment or a restaurant on the first floor.”
Benjamin said the building is in a C-3 commercial zoning district and the first floor is limited to retail operations, rather than another use such as a medical office.
A tax-increment financing district, which includes the property, expired in December 2009. Asked whether La Grange would start another TIF to attract a tenant to Borders, Benjamin said there is no consideration for another such funding plan.
About Edwards, Benjamin said, “We continue to work with them.” Edwards Realty took over the 10-year-old shopping center last year after two previous owners, he said.
Added Hassan, “We’re seeing where the market takes us.”
