The newest Starbucks in the Oak Park and River Forest area, open less than a year, will close some time in the next nine months as part of national downsizing by the Seattle-based corporation.
Will Moen, store manager of the North and Lathrop Starbucks, confirmed the closing Thursday afternoon. Moen said he and his staff were informed last Friday that their facility would be among the 50 Illinois locations and 600 nationwide that will be shuttered by the Seattle corporation, beginning next month through next March.
Moen added that stores are being informed a minimum of 30 days ahead of the earliest possible date for closing, but as of yet there’s no set timeline. “They’re working with an overall nine-month time frame,” he said. “I could wind up closing next month or next February.”
Moen explained local store management is being informed of decisions by corporate headquarters on a “need-to-know” basis.
“Right now this is as much as I know,” he said.
As recently as last year, Starbucks was expanding its presence in the Oak Park-River Forest-Forest Park area, opening its third Oak Park location at 711 Lake St. It previously had opened its first River Forest site at 7201 Lake St. in the River Forest Town Center, in October, 2006.
The North and Lathrop store is one of six Starbucks currently in the area.
Dispute over parking lot continues
Just how the closing will affect an ongoing dispute between the owner of the building the Starbucks operates in and their neighbors to the south, Tony and Jo Chiefari, remains unclear at present.
The Chiefaris made it clear they have no complaint with Starbucks.
“Starbucks is a good operation. It’s just in the wrong place,” said Tony Chiefari.
The Chiefaris say they have been wrangling with Starbucks’ landlord, Preferred Development, Inc., for two years over a list of complaints, including noise, litter, smell, and what they say are unsafe conditions caused by the traffic related to the six businesses in the building.
“It’s a 1950s lot trying to handle 2007 commerce,” Chiefari told village trustees at the June 23 village board meeting.
The Chiefaris said they’ve tried everything they know to deal with Preferred Development, but are out of patience.
“They improved the interior and facade, but did nothing for the neighborhood,” Chiefari said Friday.
That appears to be changing. Preferred Development’s Tom Morabito did not return a call for comment Monday. However a July 11 court hearing on two ordinance violation citations related to the parking lot behind Preferred Development’s property was continued until 10:30 a.m., Aug. 1, after River Forest staff learned the firm had submitted plans to reconfigure the lot. Officials are currently reviewing those plans, Public Works Director Greg Kramer said Monday.
Kramer said the first citation was for substandard ingress and egress patterns in the lot, the second for late-night noise violations.
“The driveways both line up with the parking lanes,” Kramer noted. “That leads to back-ups and congestion.” Kramer said initial assessment of the plans, which call for reconfiguring, resurfacing and restriping the lot, are positive
“The reconfiguration looks pretty good. It establishes one main driveway,” he said.
The Chiefaris say another big problem is a common apron for both their driveway and the parking lot entrance. On more than one occasion, they say, they’ve had delivery trucks block their driveway.
A 30-foot strip between the properties, once fenced but now separated solely by bushes, is another sore point for the Chiefaris. “We need a buffer,” said Tony Chiefari.
Kramer said Preferred Development’s new plans call for that. “The driveway, which currently butts up directly to [the Chiefaris’] is being removed,” he said. There’ll be a green grass parkway, a physical separation. That, he hopes, should discourage people from pulling up on his driveway and apron.
Kramer said discussions are also taking place outside of court regarding additional complaints the Chiefaris have regarding light and noise disturbance in their backyard. While giving a tour of his extensively landscaped yard and pool, Tony Chiefari noted his daughter has no privacy while sunbathing due to people frequently looking over the old 5½-foot stockade fence. Just as bad, he said, are the car lights from the adjacent lot constantly disturbing their peace at night.
“The headlights come into the kitchen and bedroom,” he said. “I can read the paper in bed.”
The Chiefaris want a solid 8-foot fence installed to block both the headlights and voyeurs. Kramer said the village is working on it.
“There are ongoing discussions regarding ways the [parking lot] owners can address some of the concerns the [Chiefaris] have expressed,” said Kramer.
“We need separation at the rear of our properties as well,” said Jo Chiefari.