Lake Zurich on spot with Wickes closing

Barely a year after Wickes Furniture came into Lake Zurich like a lion, the national store is going out like a lamb, leaving village and business community leaders pondering what will take its place.

It's the second chain furniture store along Route 12 to go belly up in two years. Bay Furniture in Lake Zurich closed in June 2006.

Village officials don't know exactly how much sales tax will be lost with Wickes' departure, but they say it will have minimal impact. The bigger fear is that the property will sit vacant a long time.

"It is a concern," Village Administrator Bob Vitas said. "We'll be looking for another retailer to occupy that space."

Officials started talking to other potential users as soon as they were notified last month that Wheeling-based Wickes Furniture Co. was filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Nothing can really happen on the site until Wickes sells off its remaining inventory.

"They've got 90 days under Illinois state law to do that," Vitas said.

Vitas said he's relieved Wickes does not own the site, so the property should not be tied up in bankruptcy proceedings.

Lake Zurich's business community has weathered blows from several major store closures in the last few years, including a Big Lots and a Mattress Giant going bust.

The soon-to-be vacated Wickes site at 825 S. Rand Road, the former Bay Furniture lot and a long-vacant Kmart property are three prominent Route 12 pockets community leaders are eager to see occupied.

Since the recent business closures have been regional chain stores, it's not a reflection on the local economy, said Dale Perrin, executive director of the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce.

"There is still tremendous interest in this area for businesses and corporations to come in here," he said.

One example is a proposed development of a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse and a Meijer targeted for a Route 12 property on the border of Lake Zurich and Kildeer, Perrin said.

There may be challenges to finding another tenant for the 42,000-square-foot Wickes building because of the way it was built, said John Sfire, president of The Fidelity Group, real estate developers based in Lake Zurich.

"It's all glass … a very expensive building to maintain from a heat loss perspective and difficult to subdivide," he said. "The building wasn't really constructed to be anything more than a furniture store, so it's going to be a difficult transition."

Sfire said the national economy needs to improve before any new big retailers come to town.

So far, there is no indication what retailer may fill the Bay Furniture location, owned by Sfire's group.

The Kmart site, owned by a New Jersey corporation, has been a thorn on the side of village officials, but there is hope.

"There's been some recent interest in that property and the building plans were produced and released to a private company," Vitas said.