Tinley Park Trustees to Consider Plans for Golden Corral Buffet

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Tinley trustees are scheduled to consider this week a special use permit and variances for an 11,000 square foot Golden Corral restaurant at the southwest corner of 159th Street and Oak Park Avenue in two Brementowne Mall outlots.

Plans for the restaurant are scheduled to come before the Village Board on Tuesday night. A site plan was approved by the Plan Commission on May 17, which also held a public meeting on plans that night.

Preliminary plans call for 152 parking spaces, between 130 and 150 employees and seating for 440 in the restaurant that would front 159th Street in front of Menards.

Golden Corral opened in North Carolina in 1973 and bills itself as America’s No. 1 buffet and grill.

The closest restaurants to the Southland are in Joliet, Bolingbrook and Schererville, Ind.

Requests for more information from Golden Corral were not returned.

Olympic Star Open Again

The Olympic Star restaurant, which closed in April for its first renovations since opening in the late 1970s, reopened its new-look quarters this morning at 7100 W. 171st St. in Tinley Park. For information, call 708-532-8900.

Tinley Cruise Nights Begin Tuesday

Car fans take heart, the second annual Tinley Park Cruise Night begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday in downtown Tinley Park. The free car show runs from 5-9 p.m. every Tuesday through August on Oak Park Avenue from 171st Street to the Metra Station. The show is sponsored by VFW Post 2791 and the Tinley Park MainStreet Commission. There will be music, food and beverages and plenty of cars of all ages and models. For information, call 708-444-5678.

Papa’s Pizza Closes in Oak Forest

Papa’s Pizza closed last week at 16040 S. Cicero Ave. in Oak Forest. The pizzeria had been in business for 40-some years.

Southland Chamber Names New CEO

David Hinderliter was named recently as new President and CEO of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce. He fills a position that has been vacant for more than three years.

A Bourbonnais resident with an extensive executive resume, Hinderliter had led the Kankakee Regional Chamber of Commerce since 1993.

“You have no idea how excited I am to be here,” he said to members and guests at the Southland Chamber Regional Lunch on May 14.

The newly tapped Chamber chief expressed an eagerness to get down to business and push forward in his new position. His work is cut out in an organization that has an 85-community footprint.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.

You can also catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at http://www.southlandbusinessnews.blogspot.com/.

Mokena White Castle to Reopen Sunday

A new White Castle opens Sunday on the site of the previous White Castle in Mokena.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Slider fans in the Mokena area who have been without a local White Castle since the location at 191st Street and LaGrange Road was demolished earlier this year take heart, the newly constructed replacement White Castle will open in the same location at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 3.

The new White Castle has the same design as one that opened last year on U.S. 30 in New Lenox, said Bill Thompson, regional director of restaurant operations for White Castle.

“Mokena will have a little bigger dining room,” he said.

The new eatery sports a drive-up lane with two windows, free Wi-Fi and televisions, Thompson said.

White Castle has been a fixture at the intersection of 191st and LaGrange since the company acquired the building from Hardee’s in 1997. The new building eliminates some problems that existed with the previous building, notably the drive-through lane.

Ohio-based White Castle has been operating in the Chicago area since 1929, and the company is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

Cheesecake Factory Eyes Orland Square Mall

California-based Cheesecake Factory, perhaps best known for employing Kaley Cuoco’s character Penny on the hit CBS comedy “Big Bang Theory,” plans to locate in Orland Square Mall later this year.

The plan calls for the Cheesecake Factory to move into the Jos. A Bank location and for the menswear retailer to move into the former Ruby Tuesday location. It would be the food chain’s first location in the Southland.

The Cheesecake Factory will be about 11,000 square feet when it opens this fall or winter.

GSU Offers Business Workshop

CenterPoint at Governors State University is sponsoring a series of Starting a Business in Illinois workshops in June for Chicago Southland residents.

The free workshops focus on personal, financial, and legal aspects of starting a business. Participants will learn what steps to take and what resources are available to assist new business owners succeed in today’s challenging economic climate.

A workshop will be presented Tuesday, June 5, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Palos Heights Public Library, 12501 S. 71st Avenue, Palos Heights. Dan McAllister, Regional Representative for GSU CenterPoint, will present the program.

For more information, contact CenterPoint at 708-534-4927 or http://www.centerpointgsu.com/.

Share Your Soles Needs New Home

Alsip-based Share Your Soles Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been bringing shoes to desperately impoverished people throughout the world for the past 12 years, has to vacate its warehouse by the end of June and is looking for a new home.

Founder Mona Purdy is looking for a vacant warehouse that the group can use. You can contact her at 708-448-4469 or via email at info@shareyoursoles.org.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.

You can also catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at http://www.southlandbusinessnews.blogspot.com/.

Lincoln Mall Sold to 2 Bidders

Lincoln Mall in Matteson was sold at foreclosure auction Friday to two bidders.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Beleaguered Lincoln Mall hit the auction block on Friday and was sold off to two bidders.

“The sale won’t be final until confirmed by the foreclosure judge,” said Michelle Panovich, a receiver for the mall at U.S. 30 and Cicero Avenue in Matteson and a senior vice president with Mid-America Asset Management.

Panovich said the mall was sold as five parcels.

Three of the parcels were acquired by Credit Union Liquidity Services LLC, the Texas-based lender who filed suit against the mall’s owner Realty American for defaulting on a $40 million loan.

She declined to name the other buyer until the court approves the bids. The process should take about 14 days, she said.

The Judicial Sales Corp., which conducted the auction, on its website listed the bid for the two parcels as $154,500, which Panovich confirmed.

“If someone bought it, I’m happy,” said Panyovich about the sale. “The buyer said they intend to keep the mall open.”

The mall has been on a decline for more than a decade. The pending departure of Sears will leave Carson’s as the mall’s single anchor store, though JCPenney and Target have stores adjacent to the shopping center.