Amazon Fresh store announced in Lincolnwood

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

An Amazon Fresh grocery store will be the anchor tenant in the 4500 block of West Touhy Avenue as part of the planned District 1860 development on the site of the former Purple Hotel at Lincoln and Touhy avenues in Lincolnwood.

“We have been working diligently with a grocer and we have a signed  lease with that grocer and the grocer is Amazon Fresh,” Tucker Development chief executive officer Richard Tucker said at the July 20 meeting of the Lincolnwood Village Board Trustees.

“Amazon Fresh is a wonderful grocer,” Tucker said. He said that the first Amazon Fresh store in the Midwest opened as part of a Tucker Development project in Naperville recently.

“It will be a wonderful addition to Lincolnwood and to District 1860,” Tucker said.

The store will have an increased footprint from 35,400 square feet as originally proposed to 38,015 square feet, and will be 40 feet tall instead of 49 feet to accommodate a rooftop parking lot with 98 spots, the developer’s staff said at the meeting. The entire project also features 721 parking spots and the store will be using different building materials for construction including metal panels and pre-cast concrete.

Trustees at the meeting approved an amendment to the District 1860 planned unit development and a second amendment to the redevelopment agreement to reflect these changes.

The District 1860 project will feature about 300 residential apartments, as well 80,000 square feet of commercial space for restaurants, retail and services uses, according to the developer. Some of the restaurants that have signed on as tenants include Fatpour Tap Works and Fat Rosie’s Taco and Tequila Bar.

The grocery store will be the only full-service grocer in Lincolnwood, the village said in a press release.  Construction of the proposed development is anticipated to begin this fall.

“Thank you to Tucker Development and all of those involved that have worked on this project. I am pleased to announce that the village will be the newest site for Amazon Fresh. This is the beginning of what we anticipate to be a long and fruitful partnership with one of the largest grocery retailers in America.” Mayor Jesal Patel said in a press release.

“We are excited to take this next step with Tucker Development and their District 1860 project. Within a few months, the transformation from a long-vacant eyesore to a vibrant mixed-use development will begin. I’m proud to have been part of the concept plans that started back in 2016 and will be honored to serve as mayor for the groundbreaking and eventual ribbon-cutting of this great development.”

Tucker Development also announced that First Hospitality Group, the entity responsible for developing a hotel on the site would be unable to move forward as originally planned due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the village said.

However, at the meeting, village attorney Steven Elrod said that the site will maintain zoning for a hotel on that parcel because the village would like to eventually see a hotel built there and to also ensure that Tucker would need to come before the village board if they wanted to build something else on the site.

Patel said at the meeting that he visited the Naperville store and “they have put amazing technology in that place.” He said he couldn’t wait to walk into a store in Lincolnwood and walk out with groceries without using the checkout line. “It’s marvelous technology,” he said.

This is not the first Amazon Fresh that is being planned near  the Far Northwest Side of Chicago.

An Amazon Fresh is planned as part of a mixed-use development on the People’s Gas site at 3955 N. Kilpatrick Ave., in the Six Corners shopping district, and another Amazon Fresh is reportedly a part of a development on the old Kmart site on Harlem Avenue in the Village of Norridge.

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