Business & Tech

Cheesecake Factory Opening in Orland Park

Restaurant is planning to open up in the current Jos. A. Bank space within Orland Square Mall by the end of the year.

Orland Park will soon be adding a new restaurant to its roster off LaGrange Road with the addition of The Cheesecake Factory.

The company’s petition to set up shop in the space now occupied by in ’s lower level was announced at Monday night’s . The men’s clothing store will be moving to the former Ruby Tuesday space attached to the mall. The space will be built out to accommodate the restaurant’s theme, and is planned to take up about 11,000 square feet of space.

The location will add to over 170 locations across the country that have opened, since the first full restaurant opened with the name in Beverly Hills, Calif. In 1978. The village had been in discussions with the company for about three years.

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Village Trustee James Dodge attributed the time between first inquiries and this petition to open to the economic recession.

“With the economy everyone put a lot of retail construction on hold,” Dodge said. “So this has been a long time coming for the village.”

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Dodge also noted that Whole Foods, which will , took about four years before they finally moved forward.

Adding The Cheesecake Factory brings another chain restaurant to a saturated area in the village, though Dodge said that quantity has more to do with circumstances outside the village’s control.

“I think it’s the economics situation and it’s really tough for small businesses to get credit,” Dodge said, when asked about the high number of chains in Orland Park compared to private-owned. “It’d be great to see banks lending more money to small businesses, but right now banks aren’t lending. The whole system is backward. The federal government protects large banks, but smaller community banks who know the area may or may not be willing to take chances on local businesses.”

Furthermore, he believes the possibility that several federal tax cuts might expire by the end of the year only complicates things further for private owners looking to open up.

“Who isn’t terrified at the prospect that every taxpayer might have to pay more if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year,” Dodge said.

Trustee Kathy Fenton said the village is just as willing to sit down with private business owners looking to open as with the chains.

“We’ll do everything we can to help,” she said.

Mayor Dan McLaughlin noted that , Whole Foods, and The Cheesecake Factory all are expected to open by the end of xthe year, along with BMW’s new 159th Street location that opened recently.

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