Joliet gives El Guero more time for supermarket project

Supermercados El Guero now has until 2024 to open a supermarket on the East Side of Joliet without losing a city tax incentive package worth at least $1 million.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the extension that sets a new timeline for the incentives package that had expired in 2021.

Council member Larry Hug, chairman of the Economic Development Committee that reviewed the proposal, urged its approval.

“I’m glad they stuck with it,” Hug told the council. “This is going to be a tremendous addition to that area of the city.”

Hug said the project was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic that stalled supply chains everywhere. However, El Guero is working on the building again.

“They gutted the inside,” Hug said.

The city originally provided the incentives to bring back a supermarket to spaces vacated when Certified Warehouse Foods closed its two East Side stores at 118 E. Jackson St. and 1225 Richards St. in 2017. The city was unable to attract a grocer to the Richards Street site.

The incentives were offered out of concern about food-desert conditions on the East Side.

The El Guero incentive package drew protests from several small Hispanic grocers operating on the East Side before it was approved in 2019, with many saying the city was giving tax dollars to a big store that would compete with them for the same customers.

El Guero, which has a store in Crest Hill and other locations in the Chicago area, sells Hispanic food among an assortment of groceries and fresh produce.

No one voiced opposition to the extension of the incentive package Tuesday at the meeting, and the council approved it 8-0.

A city staff report on the project detailed that costs of the redevelopment project have increased 18% since 2019. The project now is estimated to cost $7.1 million compared with the original estimate of $6 million.

El Guero plans to redevelop 55,000 square feet of space at the retail center, including the parking lot. The supermarket would occupy 48,500 square feet while leasing out the remaining space.