Des Plaines Yesterday and Today

Hardware, Grocery Stores Preceded Mexico Restaurant in Downtown Des Plaines

Mexico Restaurant has become a fixture of downtown, and its heavily-remodeled home held several important businesses before it.

One of Des Plaines' oldest mexican restaurants is housed in a building with a long past of its own. Mexico Restaurant has quietly been one of the longest lasting eateries in downtown Des Plaines. Its first location on Ellinwood Street was demolished in the mid 1980s for an ill-fated redevelopment scheme which would not materialize for another 15 years, ultimately taking the form of Library Plaza. In the meantime, Mexico Restaurant became one of the few tenants to thrive in the ill-fated Des Plaines Mall, and one of even fewer to survive the mall's demise. In 1998, the restaurant moved to 694 Lee Street. For 77 years prior, the space at 694 Lee was one of downtown's oldest retail businesses. When Ace Hardware closed, generations of Des …

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New Science and Healthcare Center Underway at Oakton

The new 93K square-foot facility is expected to be completed in 2014.

Hundreds turned out at Oakton Community College on Thursday for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new 93,000 square-foot Science and Health Careers Center. The $39 million project is the first part of the college’s five-year facilities master plan, totaling $68.5 million, and is expected to be completed in 2014. The new facility will sit on the northeast side of campus next to the lake. Sophisticated labs, enhanced technology and abundant lab preparation and storage space are among features mentioned in a press release from the college. The science and healthcare building will house Oakton’s biology, chemistry, earth science, medical laboratory technology, nursing, physics, physiology and physical therapy assistant programs. Margaret Lee…

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City Grants Aim to Revitalize Downtown

$5,000 incentive to entice new businesses to relocate into vacant storefronts.

The City of Des Plaines is offering a new program that officials hope will lure businesses to relocate to vacant storefronts downtown. Business owners who qualify for Downtown Business Assistance Program will receive a $5,000 grant toward "hard costs" of their venture – that is, physical improvements or updates to the building, said Jennifer Ganser, the city's economic development coordinator. The program is only for new businesses moving to Tax Increment Financing (TIF)  District 1, which includes Metropolitan Square, Library Plaza and the area along Miner and Lee streets. "Some of the vacant storefronts that people had been seeing sparked the need [for the program]," Ganser said. "We're hoping that maybe with the program, someone will …

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