Businesses along 95th Street in Oak Lawn will get more parking for their customers as the village steps in, buying land and partnering with Palermo’s Italian restaurant to fund the improvements.
The parking spaces will help businesses on the south side of 95th, west of Cicero Avenue, as well as residents who live nearby who have to deal with patrons of the businesses looking for a place to park.
“This is a project that has been in the works for a couple years,” Oak Lawn village manager Thomas Phelan said in an email.
The Village Board voted Aug. 29 to purchase of a parking lot at 9512 S. 49th Ave., for $100,000, down from an initial asking price of $250,000, according to village staff. The lot is next to a home the village previously bought and tore down.
The properties will be part of a parking lot expansion and improvement plan the board approved in 2022 to address complaints from businesses and homeowners that a lack of parking causes safety issues and nuisance problems, Phelan said.
The parking, behind Palermo’s Italian restaurant and other businesses at 4847–4869 W. 95th Street, will encompass the area from Lacrosse Avenue to the alley between 49th Court and Brandt Avenue, according to village officials.
“With the purchase of the lot at 9512 S. 49th, the village now owns four parcels and Palermo’s owns the other two. Their two are contiguous to ours in the lot between Lacrosse and 49th,” Phelan wrote. “Our plan is to make it one big parking lot by closing off 49th with a cul-de-sac.”
When complete, Palermo’s will maintain ownership of two of the parcels, and be responsible for ongoing maintenance of them. The village will own the other four.
The work is set to start Sept 10.
The Village Board hired Christopher Burke Engineering and Gallagher Asphalt to expand, redesign and construct or reconstruct the designated area.
The project is estimated to cost $700,000 and include new lighting, landscaping and ways to redirect traffic away from residential streets.
When the work is finished, Palermo’s is expected to pay between $110,000 and $120,000 for the improvements to the lots it owns.
Because the new and renovated parking lots are expected to support businesses along the commercial corridor, address pedestrian and vehicle safety problems, enhance the village’s property tax base and increase sales tax revenue, village officials agreed to rebate a portion of the sales tax Palermo’s collects up to the amount of its contribution.
The restaurant’s estimated $110,000 to $120,000 contribution is due after the project is complete.
In each of the next three years, Oak Lawn will rebate the municipal and home rule sales tax, a combined 2.25%, paid by the restaurant up to one third of its project contribution.
The agreement between the village and Palermo Properties LLC is for 20 years, “because of the significant investment the village is making, which is predicated on the area remaining a parking lot for a long time,” Phelan said.
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
