Ald. Gardiner: plans moving forward for Sprouts grocery store on Higgins in Jefferson Park

by BRIAN NADIG

While Jefferson Park will be getting a new, long-awaited grocery store at 6200 W. Higgins Ave., revitalizing the area’s Milwaukee-Lawrence commercial district remains a challenge.

At the March 25 meeting of the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, Alderman James Gardiner (45th) updated residents on the plans for the Sprout grocery store planned for the former CVS Pharmacy site at Foster and Higgins avenues.

The alderman also discussed the challenge of bringing businesses to the area’s longtime vacant buildings, noting that a developer is planning a redevelopment project for the northeast corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Giddings Street.

The planned Sprouts would be its first one in Illinois, where it ultimately is seeking to open as many as 35 stores, the company said last year. Currently Sprouts, which describes itself as a health-focused store with produce and other food options, has more than 450 stores in 24 states.

Sprouts plans to renovate the existing building on the site, with a tentative opening by the end of May of 2027, but the sale of the property is contingent on the city vacating a narrow strip of city-owned land in the north end of the parking lot. The strip runs parallel to Foster Avenue and may have once been used as a bus stop or an alley.

An ordinance to vacate the strip and to sell it to the current owner of the former pharmacy site was introduced at the March 18 meeting of the City Council.

Earlier plans called for a Trader Joe’s grocery store to be built on the parcel, but it pulled out of the project due to concerns over a reported underground oil tank on the site. It’s not clear if a tank would have to be removed, but all environmental issues are being addressed, according to Gardiner.

A pending construction permit for the buildout of the store has received its environmental approval. One of the remaining issues is related to compliance with the city’s landscape ordinance, which can require green space to be added to the parking lot.

Meanwhile, residents at the meeting asked questions regarding some of the blighted conditions of the area’s central business district.

Gardiner said that Jefferson Park lacks the large tracts of available land that has brought developers to Six Corners over the last 10 years, following the closing of two banks, a Sears and a People’s Gas facility. Jefferson Park’s undeveloped sites tend to be smaller.

Gardiner added that the area also was harmed by the decision in the 1990s to put a U.S. Postal Service sorting center, 4810 N. Milwaukee Ave., in heart of the business district instead of a foot traffic-generating development. That site had been home to the Annes Department Store.

Gardiner said that a tentative plan to demolish three buildings at 4745-57 N. Milwaukee Ave. and replace them with a mixed-use structure with 28 residential units could jumpstart the area’s revitalization.

The storefronts of those buildings have been largely vacant for years.

However, at one time they housed thriving businesses, including Neuman Bakery, Teresa II Polish Restaurant, Magnolia Banquets and even a bowing alley, the latter of which was destroyed during a roof collapse on a portion of the building.

Residents asked Gardiner if high rents are scaring prospective tenants away from the empty storefronts.
High rents can be a problem, but another concern is the poor condition of properties, Gardiner said.

“They’re disgusting” in some circumstances, the alderman said of the appearance when you walk in. He added that he has firsthand knowledge of the problem because he’s spent time looking to lease space for a ward office.

The district includes some storefronts that have been vacant for decades. There also are several vacant lots where buildings were demolished years ago for planned developments but nothing was ever built.

In some circumstances the buildings have not been fully demolished.

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