The Fresh Market grocery chain to open next year along Route 59 in Westridge Court in Naperville
A new grocery store is coming to the northern end of the Westridge Court shopping center on Route 59 near Jefferson Avenue in Naperville.
The Fresh Market chain of supermarkets based in Greensboro, North Carolina, plans to open its fifth store in Illinois.
Other locations are in Crystal Lake, Geneva, Lake Forest and Wilmette.
Started in 1982, The Fresh Market operates 159 stores in 22 states.
The supermarket chain replaces the Dick’s Sporting Goods Warehouse, which moved to the Aurora side of Westridge Court. Both sides are owned by New York-based Brixmor Property Group.
Rich Dippolito, vice president of redevelopment for Brixmor, said it typically takes 12 months to construct a grocery store so customers can expect the business to open in the few months of 2024.
Crews already are working to transform the 27,725-square-foot retail space into The Fresh Market.
Dippolito said Brixmor is continuing to search for permanent tenants for other locations throughout Westridge Court, including 50,000-square-foot space at 2781 Aurora Ave. where the Dick’s outlet store is now temporarily located.
Andrew Balzer, property director for Brixmor, said at a recent Naperville City Council meeting that the Dick’s Warehouse lease will expire in a few months.
“It’s pennies on the dollar for these temp tenants that we put in there,” Balzer said.
“I guess from the curb, it looks like it’s occupied. But economically, it’s really not occupied,” he said
It helps to have a business in the space to cover some of the costs, but it’s not a permanent solution, Balzer.
To complement the Westridge Court stores, Brixmor is proposing to remove the existing buildings and infrastructure in the Heritage Square shopping area and replace them with a regional upscale dining and entertainment destination featuring a community lawn for events.
Block 59 would be integrated with Westridge Court through new pedestrian connections, reconfigured parking lots and improved signage.
Brixmor will bring its Block 59 concept to the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Naperville Municipal Center.
The company is asking the city to revoke the Heritage Square planned unit development in favor of the new Block 59 plan featuring restaurants and entertainment and experiential venues.
Also under consideration are variances for parking, signs and light pole height requirements.
To fund the Block 59 venture, Brixmor has asked the city to set up a business district that would allow an added 1% tax on sales made at the businesses within the district.
While Brixmor had wanted all of the connected businesses within Westridge Court to be added into the business district, council members said they’d only support the district encompassing Block 59 and the eastern portion of Westridge Court.
One of the stipulations the state established for creating a business district is that the property be “blighted.”
Consultants Kane McKenna Associates determined the area fits the state’s definition because it is an economic liability and is underutilized due to a deterioration of site improvements, inadequate street layout, declines in property values and declines in sales taxes.
A hearing on Brixmor’s latest proposal is scheduled before the council Feb. 21.
The Heritage Square shopping center dates back to the early 1990s when Montgomery Ward opened a prototype store there in 1992 as the anchor.
Five years later the store that once employed 97 people closed.
In 1999, Carson Pirie Scott Furniture Gallery opened in the former Wards store, and the property later went through a series of tenants, including Art Van Furniture and Rec Room Furniture & Games.
