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November 30, 2011 B1Special Advertising SectionCelebratingPleasant District

November 2011

PleasantDistrict

Opens!


2/11

B2 November 30, 2011 Special Advertising Section CelebratingPleasant District

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Come Celebrate the New Pleasant District!


3/11


Advancing thehealth and vibrancy of

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PLEASANT DISTRICT ASSOCIATION

A COMPLETE STREET NEIGHBORHOOD

www.pleasantdistrict.org/[email protected]

For the businesses on South Marion Street that have been stoically, or with humor, weath-ering its daily drilling, dust and detours since early June, the timely completion of theimprovement project is cause to kick of f their holiday season with cheers.

The grand opening and block party to unveil the new and improved streetscape is set for Thurs-

day, Dec. 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. For the party, we are planning to pull out all the stops,says Eric Larson, co-owner of Marion Street Cheese Market. We will have lots of cheese beingdemonstrated by vendors. Beer, wine and spirit vendors will be there with tastings, and maybea Landert fondue demo will be par t of the festivities that evening.

In addition, live entertainment and prizes will be on tap, plus dinner specials and holidaypromotions up and down the street. Oak Park Jewelers is planning to raffle off five $100 giftcertificates for in-store purchases. Greenline Wheels and Salon 212 & Spa will also offer give-aways.

Feet on the street throughout the streetscaping project have been Craig Failor, Village ofOak Park planner, Loretta Daly, Oak Parks business services manager and Daniel Grove, vicepresident of the Lakota Group, the Chicago-based landscape architectural firm hired to designand co-manage the job.

What everyone gets for the $5.4 million price tag is plenty, including bluestone pavers for thewider, expanded sidewalks; granite curbing, benches, sewers and lots of red bricks to charm upthe new pedestrian and bicycle-friendly business district.

Underground, workers replaced a 101-year-old water main and more, says Mike Thomassen,estimator/project manager with the George Sollitt Construction Company.

The materials that the streetscape committee selected have a life cycle of 70 to 80 years,so we shouldnt have to get back into the ground for quite a while. This is fiscally soundpolicy, Daly says.

Spiffed up and sparkly

Unlike North Marion Street, there will be no signature archway, cistern or heated sidewalks,Failor says. Instead, overhead will extend a twinkling Tivoli lighting system, installed up thestreet and near Mills Park will be a garden. Along the sidewalk, new trees in structured soil willgrow, thanks in part to a conservational underground irrigation system that collects and reuses

storm water via the street side grates.This, says Failor, is the second phase of awider municipal plan to physically and aes-thetically connect the three downtown busi-

ness districts. Bringing the streetscape onNorth Marion Street to Downtown Oak Parkand visually and physically connecting themwith the Pleasant District will allow the twoshopping areas to complement and extendtheir boundaries.

In addition, the village has secured $80,000in federal funding to complete additional rail-way viaduct improvement work in 2012.

The next step, he says, is to do a similar streetscape project on Oak Park Avenue, north andsouth of the tracks. Its a conversation we have started and need to continue with the boardto figure out the money, and all that goes with that, of course, Failor adds.

Grove says that they will be continuing the design elementsall the way down to Mills Park,which is currently undergoing a facelift of its own via the Park District of Oak Park. Regionally,other communities are looking at what we are doing here and they are saying, Wow, that signifi-cant investment could really pay off in dollars when you consider the tourism aspects and drawfor more companies to shoot commercials and films in downtown Oak Park.

Daly is confident that wider sidewalks, especially in the area around the eateries will pay off,especially during the warm weather when they can take advantage of alfresco dining season.It will bring a life onto a street we havent been able to capture until now, she says. Look atwhat the new outdoor seating at Cucina Paridiso has done for that little stretch of area on Nor thBoulevard. There is the ability to do that same thing in several areas on South Marion Street.

Good news at the close of the project, asserts Grove, is that South Marion Street, which

occupies more square footage than North Marion Street, was completed quicker and cheapercompared to the North Marion Street project. That seems to me to be a pretty big homerunfor the Village of Oak Park, Grove says.

South Marion Street Ribbon Cutting Set for December 1stBy Deb Quantock McCarey

- Loretta Daly

e materials that thestreetscape committee

selected have a life cycleof 70 to 80 years, so weshouldnt have to getback into the ground forquite a while.


4/11


This summer, from the large windowsof his retail biz and bistro, Eric Larson,founder and co-owner of Marion Street

Cheese Market, hopes to see a crowd ofhungry diners eating alfresco on his new,enlarged patio dining space.

Larson relocated and expanded his retailenterprise to the intersection of South Bou-levard and Marion Street in 2008. He saysthe wider sidewalks in the Pleasant Districtwill enable him to seat up to 55 patrons out-side this summer, as compared to the 14 orso seats set up previously. The same menu,Larson adds, will be offered in and out.

Across the street, and a few steps west

on South Boulevard, is LaBella, which waspurchased last year by Joe Oliverio and hisfamily. Oliverio says he plans to take fulladvantage of the extra space with a coveredand open air outdoor dining option. Outsidethey will serve smaller plates and, of course,the gourmet pizzas for which they are known.

On the corner of Marion and Pleasantis Poor Phils, and its long-time proprietor,Dennis Murphy. Since early June, he and hismirthful wait staff have been counting downthe days to when they could shift back toservicing customers sans yellow construction

vests. But, enthuses Murphy, the wait, anddisruption, will have been worth it, consider-ing the new and improved streetscape thatwill now be in place.

Since his pub already offers alfresco din-ing, he isnt planning anything groundbreak-ing. I feel that if I utilize all the new sidewalkspace, we would lose a bit of our intimacy, sowe will not expand as much as we could onthe south Marion Street side.

Instead, Murphy will begin serving upbreakfast all day long -- Eggs Benedict, siz-zling skillets, pancakes and other traditionalbreakfast fare. The rest of the menu willstay on course, with specialty beers, burgers,soups, salads and so on.

We were always the ugly step child on theother side of the tracks, as compared to thenorth side of Marion Street, says Oliviero

at LaBella. All of the vendors are excited.Now with the lighted and more appealingviaduct, and our new streetscape, we havecome to a level playing field with the busi-nesses up and down Lake Street and NorthMarion Street, and I think people are goingto see that South Marion Street has a lot tooffer.

Eating Out is InBy Deb Quantock McCarey

LA

BELLA

1103 South Blvd. Oak Park

708.524.0044

www.LabellaPasteria.com

Delivery. Take-out.Tues-Wed 5-9pm Thurs 11:30am-9pm

Fri 11:30am-10pm Sat 4-10pm Sun 4-9pm Closed Mon

Fall

Hours:

Come to LaBella!

15% offHoliday Catering OrdersMinimum order $200.Cannot be combined with any other offer. Must present coupon. Limit one coupon

per order. Offer excludes Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Expires 12/30/11

Buy One Pizza,Get Second Pizza Free!Delivery only.Second pizza must be of equal or lesser value than the first. Offer valid only Sunday

through Thursday. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Must present coupon.

Limit one coupon per order. Expires 12/14/11

LABELLA

LABELLA

WJ

WJ

101 S. Marion Street, Oak Park (708) 383-9695

only at

G. JOHNSTON/Photo


5/11


poor phi ls oyster & beer bar139 south marion, oak park, i.o.u.s.a.!

phil sez...da hoes gona start workin marion street!poor phils sidewalk caf, 139 south marion, oak park, i.o.u.s.a.!

phil sez.. . Im gonna lose my asphalt this summer!

poor phils sidewalk caf, 139 south marion, oak park, i.o.u.s.a.!phil sez... least ya dont needta buck marion street traffic!

poor phils sidewalk caf, 139 south marion, oak park, i.o.u.s.a.!phil sez... theyre digg ina hole for the gas line - whata gas!

poor phi ls sidewalk caf dat got no sidewalk139 south marion, oak park, i.o .u.s . a.!

phil sez... fresh sidewalks got laid _ broad daylight!

poor ph ils, da sidewalk caf dat got no sidewalk!139 south marion, oak park, i.o .u.s .a.!

phil sez... layin granite stone curbs for gutters_ no more peein!

poor ph ils, da sidewalk caf dat got no sidewalk!139 south marion, oak park, i.o .u.s . a.!

phil sez... layin big electric cables for streetlights_shocking!

poor phils oyster & beer bar139 south marion, oak park, i.o.u.s.a.!

phil sez... got street lamps ... big balls ... they light up!

poor ph ils oyster & beer bar139 south marion, oak park, i .o.u.s .a. !

phil sez...marion street finally open. ..yacn wal k inda street again !

No ember 30 2011 B7B6 No ember 30 2011 S i l Ad i i S i S i l Ad i i S iC l b ti Pl tDi t i t C l b ti Pl tDi t i t


6/11

November 30, 2011 B7B6 November 30, 2011 Special Advertising Section Special Advertising SectionCelebratingPleasant District CelebratingPleasant District

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7/11


The businesses of the Arcade Building,

1033 South Boulevard, would like to recognize

and thank the Oak Park Trustees for theirsupport of the Pleasant District

Streetscape Project.

Our new look is fabulous!/ /

Norman

ProfessionalServices, Inc.

When Dennis Murphy opened PoorPhils with his wife Bunny, on thecorner of Marion and Pleasant

30 years ago, the neighborhood was in

transition, so to speak.

Nearby the popular pub was a gun shop.Spanning the blocks left to right were threeSRO (single room occupancy) buildings. Twowere well run. The dicey SRO on the cornerof Marion Street and South Boulevard wasnot. Back then, it was a lot of SROs forone business district to shoulder, Murphyrecalls.

Over time, though, turnovers took care ofthe eyesores, and the neighborhood nowlooks good, and is only getting better,

Murphy reports.

What is happening here is the extensionof the North Marion Street streetscape tocreate a typical unification and link betweenthe two districts, Downtown Oak Park andthe Pleasant District, says Pat Zubak,executive director of Downtown Oak Park.

The two business districts north and southof the railroad tracks, she adds, will havesome similar design elements, but be uniqueand now connected by a beautified viaduct,after the first of the year, that is.

Zuback says that the next phase of thislocal improvement effort will be unifying TheAvenue Business District from north to southon Oak Park Avenue and then connectingit to Downtown Oak Park. The threeretail areas will eventually link together toestablish a greater, and unified, downtownbusiness district.

Michael Fox, of R.P. Foxand Associates, the groupthat owns and operates theCarleton Hotel, says he and

his staff are ready to getback to business withoutparking disruptions in thePleasant District whichruns from Harlem to HomeAvenue, and includesMarion Street betweenSouth Boulevard andRandolph.

The streetscape thatwas here before wasvery old, tired and indisrepair, Fox says.

Whenever you takeanything from a state likethat to a state like it will be, it willcreate a better overall customer experiencefor everybody.

Even before the streetscape wascompleted, Eric Larson, co-owner of MarionStreet Cheese Market, has been meetingwith Zubak to begin making plans for futurecollaborations between the Downtown OakPark and Pleasant Districts. The day afterour microbrew event ended, we thought itwould be a great idea to extend it south

through to the Pleasant District, so next yearwe could begin at Lake Street on Marion andextend it all the way down to Poor Phils,Larson says. Pat Zubak and her team have

really done a great job in coming up withother great programming, and we hope tobecome part of that as well.

Meanwhile, Mary Jo Schuler, president ofthe Pleasant District, and Larsons businesspartner, notes that the new streetscape,including the garden space and bicycleparking accommodations, will be prettyand green. Last summer, on South MarionStreet, she co-founded Greenline Wheels, anL3C social business which promotes greentransportation. Schuler is an advocate ofcreating a greener, walkable community

throughout Oak Park.

We have a great mix of businesses here,and I love the fact that I can go to the spa atSalon 212, or shop in the Oak Park Jewelers,and afterwards eat some great food wehave five restaurants in our district. I alsohave an office here, and I can drop my caroff at Loro Auto to get it serviced while Iwork, says Schuler. Getting this down tooksome high level teamwork. I am really proudof how these entities pulled together to makesomething really positive happen for ourcommunity.

On the Street Where eres BizBy Deb Quantock McCarey

Pat Zubak and herteam have really donea great job in comingup with other greatprogramming, and wehope to become part of

that as well.- Eric Larson

B9


8/11


premium artisanal spirits

available for sale in retail

100 s. marion street oak park, il 60302 708.725.7200 www.marionstreetcheesemarket.com

joinusforaweekend

of tastings

onfriday,d

ecember2

ndandsaturd

ay,december3

rd

Project Cost: $5.4 million

Bang for our buck

Over 150,000 brick street pavers

9,000 pieces of bluestone sidewalks

4,000 pieces of granite curbs, gutters, crosswalks and planters

820 new Tivoli lights

35 trees

New energy efficient dimmable LED lighting

New water main

New building water

New sewer services

Jack Carpenter Realtors

200 S. Marion St. Oak Park

(708) 383-7100 www.jackcarpenter.comEQUALHOUSING

OPPORTUNITY

Welcome to our beautiful street!

Congratulations Oak Park

on a job well done!

established 1920s

J. GEIL/Photo Editor

B10 b C l b Pl Di i


9/11


Mary Jo Schuler is the forward-thinking president of Oak Parks Pleasant District.

She is also a third generation Oak Parker, a businesswoman, a local philanthropistand a working mom who deeply cares about, and is invested in, the doings of her hometown.

In 1980, upon graduating from Oak Park and River Forest High School, Mary Jo was awardeda full ride scholarship for field hockey to Kent State University, where she earned a bachelorsdegree in Psychology. She went on to earn a masters of science degree from SouthernIllinois University, and later, a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Saint Louis University. Postcollege, she launched her career in higher education, eventually going on to become interimdean of students at Triton College in River Grove.

When she and her husband Stephen, another long-time Oak Parker, purchased andrehabbed an historic home in Oak Park, Mary Jo realized that she liked building things, andshe shifted gears.

In 2004, Mary Jo launched Final Finish Properties. Then, she became a partner and co-owner in the Marion Street Cheese Market and the Madison Highlands project, a commercialand retail business development.

Last summer, Mary Jo co-founded Greenline Wheels, an L3C social business locatedacross the street from the restaurant that rents bicycle and electronic vehicles in an effort to

promote green transportation initiatives in Oak Park.

In addition to their many business ventures, Mary Jo and Stephenhave founded and run the Good Heart/Work Smart Foundation toreflect their deep commitment to serving and inspiring local youth.Mary Jo also holds board positions with several local and nearbyorganizations.

As the oldest of nine children in a close-knit Irish Catholic family,the District 97 mom enjoys her home life as well. She and Stephen,co-founder of Getco LLC, are raising two children.

Meet Mary Jo SchulerBy Deb Quantock McCarey

Drechsler, Brown& WilliamsFuneral Home

Since 1880

Family Owned & Operated

Charles Williams,Owner/Funeral Director

203 S. Marion St.

Oak Park 60302708/383-3191

CongratulationsSouth Marion

Street

Mary Jo SchulerJ. GEIL/Photo Editor

N b 30 2011 B11S i l Ad i i S iC l b ti Pl t Di t i t


10/11


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WJ: How has South Marion Street changed

since you and Eric Larson arrived on the

scene?

Mary Jo: When we purchased this site toexpand Marion Street Cheese Market, wehad empty storefronts up and down thisarea of the district. One of the things I feelmost proud about is building this small littleeconomic engine here in the Pleasant Districtand witnessing the domino effect since wearrived.

WJ: During the construction, what have

been the challenges?

Mary Jo: Our first challenge was to pull themembers of the Pleasant District Associationtogether and build a common voice. Wehave achieved that. In addition, we havebeen doing this in a delicate economy,so it has been challenging and scary forbusinesses to open their hearts and mindsto a streetscape change. A majority of thebusinesses did fine during the construction,but there were a couple of businesses thatwere struggling before it started, so it didnot make business any better for them. Onething that I continue to remind everybody

is that we had one hundred year old pipesunderneath the street. We were scheduledto replace those pipes, and were going totear up the street one way or another.

WJ: Why the continuity in design to North

Marion Street?

Mary Jo: We wanted South Marion to looksimilar to North Marion because we believethat consumers way beyond the borders ofOak Park and River Forest, if they sensethat there is a large shopping district, it willmake Oak Park a more attractive destination.The great thing about it though, is that we

still get to maintain our ownidentity.

WJ: Any thoughts about establishing retail

only zoning in the Pleasant District?

Mary Jo: We are in a place in time whereit makes economic, environmental andpersonal health sense to build walkablecommunities. That means that our residentsneed to have access to things like banks,maybe financial planners, amenities suchas dry cleaners and other non-retail entitiesthat help to make a community walkable.A district can be walkable if you use thatsecond floor space in the right way, but Idont want to forgo the walkability of an area

just to generate more tax revenue. But Imust say, that I am proud that Marion StreetCheese Market does generate tax revenue,and that is something that helps keep ourcommunity affordable and working well.

WJ: Post project, any thoughts?

Mary Jo: This has been a communityaccomplishment, and what I think isreally remarkable is that the Village Boardapproved this streetscaping improvementproject in early May. We broke ground byJune 1 and are having the official ribboncutting on December 1st. This project

required a high level of teamwork from allparties involved, including the Village of OakPark, the Pleasant District, George SollittConstruction and all the sub-contractors.The disruptive construction process hasencouraged all of us doing business in thedistrict to go beyond ourselves to think aboutif there is something else we can do to helpour neighboring businesses. That is the OakPark way, neighbors helping neighbors.

Mary Jo Schuleron the recent redoshe hopes will extend and synergizeher local business community.

"I am proud that Marion StreetCheese Market does generate taxrevenue,and that is something

that helps keep our communityaordable and working well. "

- Mary Jo Schuler

B12 November 30 2011 Special Advertising Section CelebratingPleasantDistrict


11/11


Kick the holiday season o with a pleasant evening...

Now that the dust has settled, join us or the ofcialunveiling o our new Complete Street on South Marion.

GRAND OPENING& BLOCK PARTY!

pleasantdistrictoakpark.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST

5:30PM TO 7:00PM

ALL ARE INVITED

REFRESHMENTSLIVE ENTERTAINMENT

GIVEAWAYS

DINNER SPECIALSHOLIDAY PROMOTIONS

AND MORE!

pleasant district opens!

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