JOLIET — It’s been three months since the Joliet City Council and Mayor Terry D’Arcy approved redevelopment plans to bulldoze the empty Bakers Square restaurant at 2211 West Jefferson Street to make way for a new Starbucks coffee shop with a drive-thru window.
But if you’ve driven past the vacant Baker’s Square lately, you have not seen any positive signs of momentum. The demolition crane parked in the back lot several weeks ago has been removed from the site. Instead, the operators of the Seattle-based Starbucks company have chosen to let their future Starbucks property become an eyesore and that’s prompted the city of Joliet to take notice.
The city of Joliet has slapped GW 2211 Jefferson Joliet LLC, the property owners, with an ordinance violation for refusal or neglect to cut weeds. The violation was given on May 10 and a hearing has been set for June 11th at City Hall.
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Despite receiving the notice of violation for having tall grass and weeds on May 11, the owners of the future Starbucks are still choosing to let their weeds and tall grass grow even higher, Joliet Patch found on Friday afternoon.
As for the already approved plans to build another new Starbucks for the citizens of Joliet, that’s anybody’s guess on when it will happen.
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And maybe it won’t.
After all, Joliet’s West Jefferson Street has been the subject of other redevelopment plans that the City Council approved but failed to materialize, such as the Buona Beef that was supposed to be built at the still empty lot at 2210 West Jefferson Street.
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The Buona Beef received Council approval in 2018. Six years later, there is no Buona Beef in Joliet on West Jefferson Street, or anywhere else for that matter.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Does Joliet Need More Starbucks Coffee Shops? Ferak Column
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