W E D N E S D A Y
December 19, 2018 Vol. 39, No. 20 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Road ready wrestlers Sports, page 52
Oak Park & Madison plan moves ahead Pete’s Fresh Market and Essex Communities clears hurdle, still almost three years away By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
The Oak Park Board of Trustees moved forward with a developer’s plan to build a grocery store and senior living facility on Madison Street near Oak Park Avenue. But the board’s approval of a redevelopment agreement at its Dec. 10 meeting is just the beginning of a process that could take until 2021 to complete. The redevelopment agreement (RDA) with Jupiter Realty and its partners, approved by the board of trustees in a 6-1 vote – Trustee Simone Boutet was the sole dissenting vote – proposes to build a 41,500-square-foot Pete’s Fresh Market at 644 Madison St. The grocery store would take the place of the vacant Foley-Rice building, which is immediately east of the village-owned parking lot at the northeast corner of Madison Street and Oak Park Avenue. See MADISON STREET on page 16
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
COULD YOU SPEAK UP?: Santa tries to read the mind of 2-month-old Robert Burke at Carnival Grocery. We suspect he’s dreaming of sugarplum fairies.
Local grocer’s Christmas wish? Market share Carnival brings Santa, muralist and cafe in bid to lure Arts District clientele
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
From Friday through Sunday, Santa was at Carnival Grocery, 824 S. Oak Park Ave. The appearance was St. Nick’s first to this part of Oak Park in decades, said the store’s general manager, Steve Faso. The visitation by Mr. Claus was just one
part of a more comprehensive vision that Faso and owner Arthur Paris, a River Forest native, have for the independent grocer. In a nutshell, that vision is to grab more market share by opening up the space to the community. Recently, Faso and Paris commissioned prominent painter and arts educator Cheri Lee Charlton to plaster the store’s erstwhile
SAVE THE DATE
staid white walls with whimsical (indeed carnivalesque) murals. “A lot of my work is targeted toward younger audiences,” said Charlton, who teaches illustration at Columbia College Chicago and who has an extensive body of commissioned work including an indoor See CARNIVAL on page 12
SAY Connects presents our next installment in a series of community conversations. Come hear what our young people have to say. January 17, 2019 • Julian Middle School Auditorium: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Registration is Required - RSVP at oakpark.com/sayconnects Email advance questions to: sayconnects@oakpark.com