Park Place Plaza Vacancies Will Be Filled Soon, Tezak Says

SHOREWOOD, IL — You don't see many storefront vacancies in the village of Shorewood. But in recent months, a couple notable properties at the Park Place Plaza along Route 52 have stayed empty. In preparation for opening its new restaurant location near Route 59 at the Anderson's Crossings, Casa Maya's lease expired in July.

Just a few steps away from the former Casa Maya restaurant is the empty Cookie Jar Bakery. It closed last fall after its longtime owner decided to retire.

In recent days, Patch interviewed Bill Tezak, one of the real estate investment partners in the Park Place Plaza and the nearby Apple Tree Plaza.

Both of Tezak's strip malls are on the south side of Route 52. Tezak told Patch he is currently in negotiations with two different undisclosed restaurants that are vying to fill the Casa Maya vacancy at the Park Place Plaza.

Only one will be selected, he said.

Tezak said he expects to have a lease deal finalized with one of the restaurants in the next three weeks. The empty Casa Maya property is ideal for a restaurant because it has a full-sized kitchen. Casa Maya was here for more than a decade. Before that, it was a pizza place, Tezak recalled.

"It's been a restaurant location since Day 1," Tezak told Patch's editor.

Status of Cookie Jar Bakery

Tezak said the former Cookie Jar Bakery will be filled soon, hopefully around March. "It's going to be bakery-related," he said.

Tezak said it was his understanding the new tenant will open the bakery under a different name. He wanted to leave it up to the new tenant to publicize the opening and business name.

He said he was under the impression that the new business will be more of a regular bakery than the previous owner, who focused on making cookies.

Dynamics Changing: Tezak

Tezak said Shorewood remains an attractive, growing community and people want to open or expand businesses here. However, the days of leasing his properties at the Apple Tree Plaza and Park Place Plaza for retail businesses have passed, Tezak said.

In total, Tezak said he has about 50,000-square-feet of commercial property in Shorewood between the two strip malls.

Nowadays, more of his tenants are opening service-oriented businesses, Tezak said.

"I'm very positive," Tezak said. "Basically, there's been a conversion. We're moving away from retail into services for the last three or four years or so."