Wisconsin-based furniture retailer Steinhafels plans a 97,000-square-foot store in Orland Park, aided by a sales tax sharing agreement of up to $2 million approved by the village Monday.
The company will remodel spaces at Orland Park Place shopping center formerly occupied by former Bed Bath & Beyond and clothing and housewares retailer SteinMart.
Steinhafels hopes to have the store open by early 2024 and expects to spend more than $8.6 million to renovate the space and make parking lot improvements, according to the company.
Orland Park Place is on the east side of La Grange Road, south of 151st Street and south of Orland Square.
The sales tax sharing agreement calls for Steinhafels to receive a maximum of 25% of its project costs, up to $2 million, from sales tax revenue collected from the store.
The money could be rebated to the retailer over a period of no more than 10 years.
The agreement requires that Steinhafels begin work on the store by May 1 of next year, and the company has indicated it will take a year to complete renovations.
Founded in Milwaukee in 1934, the employee-owned company has Chicago-area stores in Crystal Lake, Downers Grove and Vernon Hills.
Steinhafels is also planning a distribution center in Bolingbrook.
The sales tax incentive for Steinhafels is a redevelopment tool the village had established to attract new tenants to vacant commercial spaces. Bed Bath & Beyond and SteinMart closed their Orland Park stores in late 2020.
Mayor Keith Pekau said such larger spaces are very challenging to fill.
“The pool of companies that can move into these spaces, most of them are here already, is very small,” he said.
Pekau said the village already has an “auto row,” referencing the multiple vehicle dealerships along 159th Street, and said the addition of Steinhafels becomes part of “furniture row” on La Grange Road.
Other furniture outlets along the street include Ashley Furniture, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Darvin Furniture, Penny Mustard and Walter E. Smithe.
“We are confident that our Orland Park Steinhafels will deliver a furniture shopping experience unseen in this area,” Fred Schweinert, Steinhafels’ vice president of sales, said in a news release Tuesday.
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The company also said Tuesday it plans a store in Harwood Heights, and expects the 110,000-square-foot distribution center in Bolingbrook to be open by next fall. The company said it will be a merchandise pickup site for Chicago-area stores.
“This new distribution center will expand us further into Illinois, enhancing our reach, speed, and availability for all of our stores, while helping us control operational expenses to serve our Illinois customers,” John Haas, vice president of operations, was quoted in the news release.
The Village Board also gave the green light for Rainbow Cone to repurpose a vacant Bakers Square restaurant, 15711 Harlem Ave., for an ice cream shop expected to open early next year.
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The store will have a drive-through lane and operate from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. A new patio facing Harlem is also planned.
Since partnering with the owners of Buona Beef, Rainbow Cone and Buona have opened combination stores in Darien, Harwood Heights and Skokie. It was not immediately clear if the Orland Park outlet will also be a combination store.
The original Rainbow Cone store is in Chicago’s Beverly community, 9233 S. Western Ave.
mnolan@tribpub.com
