As reported by the “Mount Greenwood Express, April 21, 2016
A presentation was given at the regular Monday night Alsip Village Board meeting on the progress of the Pulaski Corridor TIF. Representative Chris Manheim of Manheim Solutions, Inc. reported that all goals for March have been met by his company. Strengths and weaknesses of the redevelopment have been identified. Manheim said the corridor has much available to many medium-sized companies but store that take a lot of room may have problems due to their size.
It was stated that there aren’t many lots available for larger stores like Food 4 Less. It was also reported that residential surveys reported that desired additions to Pulaski would be clothing stores, accessory stores, hardware and auto stores, hardware and auto stores, lawn and garden stores, specialty service grocery stores, and personal service facilities, as well as high-end full-service restaurants.
With all of the possibilities noted, it was stated that the next step is to attract the best possible establishments to fit into Alsip’s demographics.
It was reported that there were communications with companies, but nothing was definite as yet. However, it was stated that Alsip has a great opportunity for redevelopment due to the fact that nearly 30,000 cars travel the Pulaski Corridor. The fact that many people who live in Alsip or travel to and from the Village, which is more than excellent for the future of redevelopment. A drawback to the redevelopment would be the fact that in essence the Alsip Community has a slow population growth, but in the Village’s favor is the fact that many of the residents do travel in and out of the Village.
The next steps are to develop grant procedures for current establishments for rehabbing their stores. The challenge, it was reported, would be to find the property or to rearrange property to accommodate stores and strip malls.