LANSING | Village officials believe they’re on the verge of finding a retailer to locate on the site of the former Sam’s Club warehouse store on Torrence Avenue.
The site at 17555 Torrence Ave. has sat vacant ever since the retailer moved to the River Oaks West shopping center in Calumet City in 2009.
But officials, including village Planning and Development Director Kristi DeLaurentiis, say they are in negotiations with another “big box retailer” who they believe will announce a move to Lansing — and to the former Sam’s Club site — later this year.
Neither DeLaurentiis nor village President Norm Abbott would identify the retailer, but they had said they expected the matter would be reviewed by the village’s Planning & Zoning Board of Appeals when it met Wednesday night.
The issue did not come before the zoning board. But zoning board Commissioner Steve Kasper said that officials wishing to locate at that site likely will come before the board in the near future.
“That’s a couple of months away,” Kasper said of the future of the Sam’s Club site.
Abbott has said the building likely would have to undergo significant renovation to make it acceptable to the new retailer.
Once the zoning board hears a final proposal, members would vote whether to recommend the project. The issue then would go to the Village Board for consideration about a month later.
Abbott had told The Times he hoped a new retailer at the Sam’s Club site could be announced prior to the April 9 municipal elections.
Both he and DeLaurentiis have said they believe negotiations are far enough along that they expect the location on Torrence Avenue just south of I-80/94 to be filled this year.
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