W E D N E S D A Y
May 1, 2019 Vol. 39, No. 39 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Annual Spring House Walk Page 19
Mohr on the market for $7 million Real estate listing comes after Oak Park tried to buy property for $4.4M By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
H.J. Mohr & Sons Co., an industrial concrete manufacturing company and one of Oak Park’s oldest businesses, is for sale for $7 million. The 3.29-acre plot of land, which recently appeared on loopnet.com by realtor Peter Poulos, takes up a full block at the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Garfield Street and includes a stripmall shopping center at the corner of Harlem and Garfield and property used to store Mohr trucks to the east of South Maple Avenue. It also includes a single-family home in the 900 block of South Maple Avenue. The listing comes months after the village of Oak Park offered the company $4.4 million for the property, sometime last year, according to Mohr’s vice president, Karen Richards. Village Manager Cara Pavlicek could not be reached for comment. It’s been slow going putting the property on the market — the business ceased manufacturing cement in early 2018, keeping its doors open by apSee MOHR on page 16
Cilantro sisters
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Sisters Conley Rietema, 4, and Baylor Rietema, 6, helped chop up cilantro, sweet potatoes and other ingredients to put inside tamales during a family cooking event at Sugar Beet Schoolhouse on Ashland Avenue in River Forest on April 27. For more photos, see page 3 and visit online at OakPark.com.
West Cook YMCA looks westward North Avenue Menards in Melrose Park considered for a second location
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The West Cook YMCA is considering another location within the west suburbs, the organization announced during its annual fundraising gala, held April 27 in Oak Brook. During an interview on Monday, West
Cook YMCA President and CEO Phillip Jimenez said the YMCA is poised to finalize a purchase-sale agreement this week with the owner of the vacant Menards, 8311 W. North Avenue in Melrose Park. Jimenez said the agreement gives the West Cook YMCA six months to conduct due diligence, which would include holding numerous stakeholder sessions to
get community input about the project, conducting a member feasibility study, evaluating the condition of the site, and gauging the funding potential through a capital campaign, among other factors. Jimenez said the YMCA would invest an estimated $250,000 to $300,000 in the See YMCA on page 17