Ricky Rockets headed to Itasca

A Ricky Rockets gas station and convenience store is set to open in Itasca as the first part of redevelopment of the former WBBM-780 AM radio tower site.

The village board approved the Ricky Rockets plan on Sept. 20. Mayor Jeff Pruyn expects the business to open sometime next year.

The new business will be on the east side of Rohlwing Road between Devon Avenue and Route 390, one of three commercial developments the village envisions for the former site of the radio tower. The others are for a hotel and a restaurant, but no proposals are on the table.

Village Planner Mo Khan said that a proposal for a Holiday Inn Express was withdrawn earlier this year.

The Ricky Rockets will have an 8,400-square-foot convenience store with an outdoor seating area, 20 gas station pumps for passenger vehicles and four truck fueling stations.

The original gas station proposal was meant to be a Thorntons, but that was withdrawn after developer Bridge Itasca LLC and commercial partner Bluestone said Thorntons' proposed 2022 construction schedule was not ideal.

Bluestone representative Drew Zazofsky said work on Ricky Rockets could begin later this year.

Zazofsky said developers also are looking for tenants for a 10,000-square-foot multi-tenant space across the street that will have a drive-through space.

"This project is fantastic," trustee Frank Madaras said. The 700-foot radio tower, which dated from 1942, came down in 2019. WBBM's new transmitter is in Bloomingdale.

The approval of the Itasca project came a week after Buffalo Grove trustees approved of a Ricky Rockets at Lake-Cook Road and Lexington Drive, also with Bluestone as the developer.