After more than a year of construction and over $38 million spent, Tinley Park’s Harmony Square, an outdoor music and performance venue with retail space, apartments and townhouses, is set to open Friday, June 18.
Construction was still at full throttle last week, but despite a few recent heavy storms, village officials said the work is on schedule with only minor projects left.
Amanda Gaus, Tinley Park events specialist, said Friday the square’s turf still needs to be finalized, mulch needs to be put down and items for the stage, such as speakers and lighting, need to finished.
Eventually, she said, there will be more landscaping, such as perennial flowers plants, outside of the mulch and turf planned for the 2-acre square. The property is 6 acres total, including the planned townhouses and apartments, according to the village.
“Harmony Square has been a key component of our vision for a first-class downtown for many years now, and it’s exciting to be here as it transitions from a dream to reality,” Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz said in a statement late June.
A structure across from the stage, called Studio 67, also still needs to be finished, but Gaus said there are just “cosmetic” final touches left. The building will be used as a reservable VIP space for events such as birthday parties and includes a rooftop area.
Several projects are completed, such as a water feature, or splash pad, which will be showcased in the opening events Friday and is planned to be converted into a synthetic ice rink in the winter.
In March, the village also reopened Teehan’s, a popular Irish bar, after purchasing the property for $200,000 as part of the Harmony Square project.
Other completed projects include replacement of a sidewalk ramp, parkway restoration and other miscellaneous structural projects, according to the Tinley Park website.
The grand opening for the square, at 6700 North Street, will begin at 7 p.m. Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by food and drink vendors, speeches by elected officials, special deals on village merchandise for residents and a concert by the rock band BoDeans.
Friday’s events will be followed by a block party from 2-10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday at the square. It will include live music on two stages, food and drinks, rides and games.
After its weekend launch, Gaus said, the square will dive into programing, with events such as the farmers market, community band series, seasonal light shows, movie showings, possible streaming of popular sports games and even an instrument zoo where children can play with a variety of instruments.
Gaus said this could transition into free music lessons in the square and said large games, like Connect Four, would be added to the square.
“It’s a third space,” Gaus said. “It’s not where you live, it’s not where you work, it’s where you go to have time off or have a picnic, have fun with friends, that kind of thing, that third place to go and see and do things.”
The square ultimately fulfills the city’s new “life amplified” branding that leans into providing more live music in the area, Gaus said.
Although construction on Harmony Square began in 2024, Gaus said the village has planned for a community space like this since the early 2000s, as Tinley Park bought the 3.3-acre property from Tinley Park Elementary District 146 in 2005. Specific details for the space changed several times, Gaus added.
The village approved several multimillion-dollar contracts fulfilling a variety of purposes, including plumbing and decorative woodwork, for the property in the past year, including a $7.8 million contract last September, a $24.5 million contract last May and a $6.8 million contract last March.
A few projects will be completed after the grand opening, Gaus said.
During the first few weeks, 175th street will be closed for improvements, a project Gaus said the village aims to finish possibly by mid-August. As a part of this project, power in the area was shut off from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 9 in order to install a 4-inch gas pipe.
West Point Builders, which is developing a portion of the village’s land under the Harmony Square project, plans to build a five-story, mixed-use building with 63 apartments above commercial spaces on North Street, east of Oak Park Avenue and east of Harmony Square. West Point also plans to build 60 townhouses on the former site of Central Middle School.
The village is also scheduled to replace almost 11,000 feet of old water pipes in the next year, according to the Tinley Park website, which also said concrete work for this project started on 171st Street the week of July 7.
Parking is also ongoing and “won’t necessarily change,” Gaus said, as the village would adapt for each event and is providing a shuttle service from the 80th Avenue train station for events next weekend to avoid increased traffic downtown.
Harmony Square is bordered by 172nd and 173rd streets on the north and south, and the 67th Avenue and 67th Court on the east and west. Gaus said she is looking forward to the square’s opening.
“We’re just really making sure that it’s launched and that it’s that really great place to go downtown,” Gaus said.
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