The future of the long vacant Mohr concrete site may be coming into focus.
Village leaders are aware of interest from nationwide gas station chain QuikTrip to redevelop the former H.J. Mohr & Sons co. concrete site. Oak Park’s Development Services Head Craig Failor confirmed to Wednesday Journal this week that QuikTrip had “submitted a preliminary application for a special use approval,” for the village to review.
Oak Park’s Plan Commission holds public hearings concerning planned developments, rezoning, special uses and other development matters and typically meets on the first Thursday of the month. The body did not hold a meeting this month and has not yet posted an agenda for August, according to village records.
Located just south of the Eisenhower Expressway’s Harlem Avenue exit, the old plant has sat rusting since the company closed its doors in 2018 amid financial woes. Once home to one of the longest running businesses in Chicagoland, the site at 915 S. Maple Ave. is considered one of the properties in Oak Park in most dire need of redevelopment.
While he declined to discuss any specifics of the preliminary application, Oak Park’s new assistant village manager for economic vitality John Melaniphy said that redeveloping the Mohr site is a major opportunity for the village.
“Certainly, the village would like to see that property redeveloped and returned to productive use,” he said.
In May, Wednesday Journal obtained documents related to the termination of Brandon Crawford, former economic vitality administrator, that mentioned a possible Tax Increment Financing district surrounding the Mohr property. The documents, dated April 11, 2025, said that discussions about the potential TIF had begun a year earlier, but that work analyzing the prospect had “not progressed as expected,” according to the village documents.
Any sale and redevelopment of the property will happen in context of the foreclosure case that Karen Richards, daughter of Dot and Bud Mohr, told Wednesday Journal is still ongoing.
Last October, H.J. Mohr & Sons Co. filed a foreclosure suit against an earlier developer, saying that KrohVan still owes on the mortgage loan agreement that matured last summer.
“The defendants have not paid the balance of the loan which matured on June 2, 2024,” the October filing said. “Current principal balance due on the note and mortgage is $4,026,830 plus interest, costs, advances for taxes, insurance and fees; and less any credits for payments received.”
H.J. Mohr & Sons Co. also claimed that the developers owed $157,241 in unpaid interest in their October foreclosure filing.
The parties had extended the mortgage’s maturity date twice. The new owners were hit with a Mechanic’s lien for more than $7,000 in unpaid contractor work last summer, according to the filing.
Richards said her family is hoping to get the property sold to a new developer as soon as possible and that they’re tired of watching the property continue to sit in blight as it struggles with consistent vandalism issues.
“I just wish we could sell it and be done with it,” she said. “Every day it’s costing us money.”
Richards said that real estate agent Peter J. Poulos has been representing her family in finding a new buyer for the property.
