Demonstrators Stage Anti-Eviction Protest in Plainfield

Members of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and Warehouse Workers for Justice gathered Monday on Lockport Street in downtown Plainfield.

A Joliet woman who lost her husband and her son to tragedies could soon lose her house too. In a demonstration organized by the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign and the local chapter of Warehouse Workers for Justice, nearly 30 people stood in protest in front of the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage office on Lockport Street Monday morning, rallying in support of Loleta Barrow-Leggett. The 46-year-old mother said she’s asking the bank to work with her to help her stay in the Meadowsledge Lane home she purchased with her husband, Charles, shortly after their son’s death in 2006. “I want to see them work with me so I can keep my home,” said Barrow-Leggett, who fell on hard times after her husband was killed in a car accident in August 2008. His death …

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Huge, Mostly Unbuilt Springbank Subdivision Sold for Just $12.5 Million

The property was in foreclosure, meaning a buyer had to be found that would purchase the entire 950-acre site.

One of Plainfield’s largest unfinished subdivisions, stuck in foreclosure limbo with only 98 of 1,880 homes built, has a new owner. Avanti Properties Group, partnering with Ocean Atlantic Management, has closed on a deal to purchase the 950-acre Springbank development, located on Drauden Road north of Caton Farm Road, from MAF Developments Inc. Avanti had announced plans to buy the subdivision in July, and requested Plainfield Village Board approval to amend the development’s original annexation agreement, site plan and zoning so it could increase the number of town houses and add an apartment complex and a 20-acre commercial site. When trustees balked, the company backed off the request but stayed mum on whether the purchase would proceed…

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Sweet Peppers Thai Says Bye to Plainfield

The restaurant shut its doors last week, but the landlord said he hopes one of "interested parties" who have already emerged may take over the space.

  Sweet Peppers Thai restaurant has closed, its landlord confirmed Thursday. Plainfield's only Thai restaurant, which opened at 12337 S. Route 59 in 2006, shut its doors last week, said Joe Ardovitch, whose company, Ardmin Properties, owns the North Plainfield Crossing strip mall, also home to Limestone Brewing Company. "They had the same issue a lot of restaurants have," Ardovitch said. "They just didn't have enough customers to keep going. ... When you're in the restaurant business, you have to keep reinventing yourself." The good news, he said, is there are already "interested parties" that may want to take over the location. Sweet Peppers owner Manajeen Moore could not be reached for comment. In related news, Ardmin has its own …

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Karen Sorensen

5:13 pm on Thursday, December 22, 2011

Thanks for the clarification, Tim. Our business directory listing said May 2010 as the "opening date," but that is when the new owners took over. According to manta.com, they opened in 2006.   more ›

Is Your American Dream the Same as Your Father's ... and Your Children's?

With forecasts of another recession (or, depending on your perspective, the worsening of the current recession), we want to know how you've had to adjust your plans for the future.

We're excited to inaugurate a new series for our Patch Readers: "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream." Every day, the national media is full of stories about how American families, businesses, and neighbors are adjusting to these trying times. There are so many changes happening so fast that it's dizzying: national debates about unemployment, foreclosures, debt, religion, government and private enterprise all touch on fundamental ways in which we see ourselves and our communities. At Patch, we want to explore that conversation on a daily basis so we can better understand how our neighbors are adjusting to the challenges and opportunities that surround us. We don't think there's one American Dream, but a multitude of them -- and a …

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Springbank Sale Won't Be Tied to Village Approval of Apartments, Townhomes

Company backs off request after officials perceive the deal, which must close Aug. 30, could be sunk by increasing density.

Ocean Atlantic developers said Monday they will back off plans to build apartment units and additional townhouses in the sprawling, but largely unbuilt Springbank subdivision if that’s what it takes to win Plainfield Village Board approval. Patrick Hughes, company vice president and general counsel, said they had already abandoned plans to build about 300 apartments at County Line and Walker roads in response to resident opposition. And although they believe the townhomes – 362 in one section earmarked for single-family homes and an additional 36 in a section earmarked for 124 – are needed to spur growth in the 955-acre development, they’re not as important as winning the board’s OK on an amended annexation agreement, Hughes said. “I’ll …

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Company Wants to Buy Nearly Empty Subdivision, but Residents Fear Harm

Springbank residents say Ocean Atlantic wants to eliminate commercial sites and increase density, which will lower property values.

The 100 or so residents of Springbank subdivision purchased their houses expecting the remaining 1,700-plus lots would be filled and a commercial development built at County Line and Walker roads. Instead, MAF Developments Inc. lost the 950-acre development through foreclosure and now PNC Bank has a deal to sell the property to developer Ocean Atlantic Management Group. The company will buy the property contingent on village approval of rezoning to allow 300 or more apartments/townhomes to be built on the 20-acre commercial site and annexation agreement changes. The requests will be reviewed by the Plainfield Plan Commission Tuesday. Among provisos could be a request to increase the density of townhomes beyond the initial 300 proposed, …

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Economy, Foreclosure Blamed for Big Drop in Pet Adoptions

Help Save Pets volunteers say they're turning down animals they know will be euthanized because they don't have the space to house them.

Tuesday was a good day for the volunteers at Help Save Pets and the employees at the Animal Care Center in Plainfield. Harriet, a 3-year-old coon hound, was going home with her new adoptive owner after living with a foster family and at the veterinary clinic since October. They had had a tough time placing her because she suffers seizures and needs epilepsy medicine, volunteer Anita Mulcahy said. But that didn't matter to Linda Knight, who said she was delighted with her new canine best friend and had specifically looked for an animal with special needs. "I've been thinking about (adoption) for about two years," said Knight, who lives in Mokena. "I wanted to be sure about the commitment." Harriet is also representative of another problem …

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About Town

Is There a Connection Between Low Voter Turnout and Empty Houses?

It's possible that foreclosed homes had an effect, but only if the folks who once owned them didn't register to vote elsewhere, the county clerk says.

How does Plainfield's foreclosure rate slant voter turnout numbers?  That's what one reader asked after reading an About Town item last week on Plainfield's mid-term election voter turnout, which was a lukewarm 45.9 percent.  The reader reasoned that, with so many houses empty, a lot of voters registered here would not be voting. And that would skew the percentage downward.  I thought it a very astute observation. So I called Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots for her take on the possible link between a lame economy and lame voter turnout.  "I thought it seemed kind of low, too," she said.  But Voots wasn't so sure the empty homes are the reason.  As soon as a voter registers in a new location, a data base at the Illinois State Board of…

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After 20 Years as a Downtown Mainstay, Baci Ristorante Has Closed

Property is in foreclosure; broker who's trying to sell it on behalf of the owners says the bad economy and road construction did them in.

Baci Ristorante, a downtown Plainfield landmark for 20 years, has closed, the victim of the economy and Route 59 construction, the broker selling the property said Wednesday. The restaurant, located at 24018 W. Lockport St. in the old St. Mary's Catholic Church building, is in foreclosure with First Midwest Bank and went on the block in a sheriff's sale in September. There were no bids. Nick DiBrizzi, a real estate broker for Coldwell Banker in Oak Brook, said he still hopes he might be able to do a short sell on the property so owner John Perri Jr. can cover what remains on the mortgage. Perri opted to close the restaurant because he is no longer making enough money to cover expenses, DiBrizzi said. "(Baci) has a great reputation, a great…

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