Meijer to Bring Jobs, Tax Revenue to Mokena

Mokena could be getting a Meijer supermarket as soon as summer 2014.

The Midwestern retail chain decided last week to build a location in Mokena, after spending months in talks with the village.

The 190,000-square-foot supercenter is estimated to cost approximately $15 million and will be located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Wolf Road.

The store will include a grocery section, home goods, apparel, hardware, electronics, toys, pet supplies, a garden center, a drive-up pharmacy and a gas station. The Mokena location will bring approximately 250 full-time and part-time jobs to the area.

“We’re pleased that they’ve made the decision to move forward with the store,” said Alan Zordan, director of economic and community development for the village.

Zordan estimates that Meijer will generate about $750,000 in sales taxes for the village and $150,000 in property taxes for Mokena School District 159.

Meijer will be the third grocery store to come to Mokena, joining Berkot's Super Food and Brookhaven Market Place.

The store will be built on the southernmost lot in the Mokena Marketplace development. Mokena Retail Associates, LLC, who sold the property to Meijer, has already built the store’s parking lot and installed lot lighting and an access roadway to Wolf Road.

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Meijer purchased the 17.5 acres of land not long after the property improvement for Mokena Marketplace was completed in 2007. However, the company chose not to build immediately, due to the instability of the economy.

“We’ve been interested in that site for a while,” said Meijer Spokesman Frank Guglielmi. “The Chicago suburbs have been a good place for Meijer.”

The Michigan-based company has almost 200 locations across the Midwest, 19 of which are in Illinois. Two more Meijer stores will open in the Land of Lincoln in 2013.

Meijer will submit its building plan to the village for permit approval within the next two months. Construction will begin after the permits are finalized.

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