Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation

Car buffs will be able to satisfy their appetite in more ways than one at a new restaurant being proposed in Mokena – the Red Line Motorsports Bar and Grill.

The restaurant, which hopes to open this winter in The Boulevard at the northwest corner of 191st Street and LaGrange Road, will feature automobiles on a rotating display, bays for auto demonstrations and classes, as well as an outdoor beer garden.

The plan recently received unanimous approval from the village’s plan commission and will be discussed at a village board work session Sept. 20. It could be approved in early October, said Alan Zordan, Mokena’s director of economic and community development.

Red Line Motorsports will occupy 5,500 square feet in the westernmost unit in The Boulevard and could become the fourth business to open in the development, which stood empty for years until it was taken over by new owners, Riveroaks Properties LLC, earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Orland Park still has more than $200,000 available for local business owners who want to improve their energy efficiency. Tens of thousands of dollars still are available for some homeowners interested in exterior improvements, too.

Thanks to federal stimulus money, the village will pay businesses 50 percent – up to $20,000 – toward qualifying projects. For residential projects, the village will pay 50 percent, up to $5,000, primarily for new energy-efficient windows, siding and doors on homes in older subdivisions. Read the rest of this entry »

A developer hopes to begin work this fall on a three-story medical office building at the northeast corner of U.S. 6 and Silver Cross Boulevard in New Lenox.Village trustees reviewed plans for the Spring Creek project at their meeting Monday night but did not take action. Key to the development is improvement of the intersection and extending Silver Cross Boulevard to the north to serve Spring Creek.Under the development agreement, New Lenox would rebate 50 percent of its 1 percent sales tax and 50 percent of its hotel tax over 10 years to reimburse the developers for the street improvements.The 61,000-square-foot office building would open at the same time as the new hospital in 2012. It’s the first phase of a mixed-use development that would include shops, hotels, offices and restaurants.

Pumpkins and scarecrows are popping up in Brady’s Craft Mart for the 20th autumn.The Orland Park business, 15643 S. 94th Ave., marks the start of its 20th year in business this month, with its booths, cabinets and shelves filled with handmade items. Jan O’Neil, daughter Aubrey O’ Neil, niece Emma Esposito and grandmother Arlene Esposito shop for American Girl outfits at Brady’s Craft Mart in Orland Park. The store rents space to a network of 100 artisans and craftmakers from across the state and the country, who stock the store with crafts they created, owner Marge Brady-Tofanelli said.”We’re constantly changing and bringing in new things,” she said. “We hit all the seasons for home decor.”The store sells floral arrangements, wedding and baby shower favors, jewelry, decorative signs, wreaths, games, painted glassware, gifts and seasonal decorations. Read the rest of this entry »