Grocery Store For Joliet's East Side? Terry D'Arcy Reveals Best Spot

JOLIET, IL — It's been four years since former Joliet Economic Development Director Steve Jones announced that Supermercados El Guero would be filling the empty Certified Warehouse Foods store at 118 E. Jackson St. El Guero was said to employ 85 people, including 50 full-time. To this day, El Guero has not fulfilled its plans of opening a grocery store on Joliet's east side.

During Monday night's Town Hall with Terry D'Arcy forum at the Stone City VFW Hall, Joliet's mayoral candidate told a crowd of 160 to 180 people that attracting a grocery store to the city's east side is an achievable goal. D'Arcy said he intends to pursue an east-side grocer store if the voters elect him mayor. He is up against two-term incumbent Bob O'Dekirk and challenger Tycee Bell in the April 4 municipal elections.

But D'Arcy's idea for an east-side grocery store isn't necessarily the old Certified Warehouse property. Rather, he suggested the old Joliet Country Club property along Mills and Spencer Roads is his preferred site to build a new grocery store. D'Arcy said he prefers to see new housing replace the former 18-hole golf course property.

D'Arcy said the Joliet Housing Authority has wanted to bring new housing to the golf course; the addition of new housing would make it attractive for a grocery store such as Yellow Banana, Aldi and Save A Lot to locate on Joliet's east side, according to D'Arcy.

As for Joliet's east side, "I think we need more people living there," D'Arcy told Monday night's audience.

The addition of new housing at the Joliet Country Club land "would spur development in that area. That brings a lot of lives to that area ... and there's enough bodies and enough space to put in a grocery store.

"We need to grow through development," D'Arcy said.

Monday's town hall took place near the location of where the giant NorthPoint mega-development will take place. Dirt work got underway last summer along Route 53. The warehouse and industrial development is expected to take 20 years to complete.

D'Arcy compared the NorthPoint project to trying to put a bullet back into a gun after you fired the pistol. It can't be undone.

He said that Joliet needs to be a much stronger regional partner with neighboring villages and government entities than has been the case.

"We are the lighthouse of the region. We are the county seat," D'Arcy reminded the crowd.

One of the questions posed to D'Arcy was, "Will you accept campaign funds from North Point?"

"No," he answered.

Someone asked for D'Arcy's plan for redeveloping the old Will County Courthouse, which closed in October 2020. Downtown Joliet entrepreneur Hudson Hollister has been leading a coalition to save the property.

"I don't have a plan," D'Arcy explained. "I really think that Joliet should have a say on that project."

On the topic of voting at City Council meetings, D'Arcy said the mayor should vote on all matters, not just when there's a tie vote. "I used to love watching (late mayor) Art Schultz," D'Arcy said.

Someone asked D'Arcy his stance on the controversial Love's Travel Stop project.

Although Joliet approved the east-side construction project at the Interstate 80 Briggs Street interchange in October 2018, Love's has yet to start construction. The east-side neighborhood has tied up the Love's truck stop with an ongoing Will County lawsuit.

Regarding Love's. "I'm not sure that's the best use of that property," D'Arcy told everyone. "I'll leave it at that."

On the topic of rejuvenating downtown Joliet, D'Arcy wants to see Joliet become known as a festival city. He said Joliet should be holding a dozen summer and fall festivals in the city center to bring more people to the downtown.

On the issue of the homeless, D'Arcy said Joliet needs to strengthen its position as a regional partner. He said many of the homeless are people who are mentally disturbed who come to Joliet from Coal City, Wilmington and Braidwood. Many live under the Cass Street viaduct, but are not Joliet residents. Someone recently told him about a Shorewood police car that dropped off someone at the MorningStar Mission on Joliet's east side, because there aren't social service agencies in Shorewood.

D'Arcy said he strongly supports working with Habitat for Humanity to bring more low to moderate income housing to Joliet, particularly on open lots or in older neighborhoods that are in need of revitalization.

Someone asked D'Arcy about the Splash Station water park off Route 6 and his thoughts on the Louis Joliet Mall property.

D'Arcy said "Splash Station is done" and that it's in the jurisdiction of the Joliet Park District, not the city of Joliet.

As for the mall, D'Arcy said the old Sears property and parking lot have been purchased by a long-time real estate investor "who now buys car dealerships of all things."

As for the Sears building, "this youth sports thing is huge," D'Arcy said, suggesting that perhaps the empty Sears retail store can turn into an indoor sports practice facility.

One of D'Arcy's final questions of the night concerned the so-called "Pedophile Palace."

The two-story apartment building at 1000 Cora Street in the Cunningham Neighborhood was purchased by an out-of-town company that creates housing opportunities for sexual offenders who have finished serving their sentences with the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In December, seven months after Joliet Patch broke the news of Cunningham Neighborhood's so-called "Pedophile Palace," eight convicted child sexual predators were now residing at 1000 Cora St., according to the Illinois State Police sex offender registry.

"There can't be that anymore in our city, and the state needs to help us mitigate that," D'Arcy suggested.