Comings & Goings: Racing Board OKs OTB for Orland Hills, Piggly Wiggly Buys Portion of Tinley Plaza

Playing the ponies will get easier for Southland bettors now that the Illinois Racing Board has approved a license for Arlington Park to open a betting parlor in Orland Hills.

The racing board last week approved the request for a Trackside OTB at 9201 W. 159th St. in Orland Hills. The board also approved LaRocco Bros. to operate the restaurant side of the business.

Orland Hills officials have been talking about getting an OTB to open in the village for more than a decade.

“The village certainly appreciates the chance to get this new business,” said .

“It hopefully will replace some of the lost revenues of the down economy and the bankruptcy of Chrysler and Circuit City,” Daly said.

In the past couple of years, Orland Hills saw a Mancari Chrysler dealership and a Circuit City appliance store (both just a few blocks away from the new OTB) go out of business. Both generated considerable income tax revenue for Orland Hills.

“We replaced Circuit City with a Sports Authority but it’s a sporting goods store and doesn’t sell big ticket items,” Daly said.

The Mancari site is the largest vacancy in the village, Daly said.

Daly said the process now is for Sam LaRocco, who operates a with an OTB in Lockport, to apply for the necessary permits and licenses.

“We need to see his plan for the build out and things like that,” Daly said.

Because LaRocco is remodeling an existing building, work should go quickly, Daly said. He said the OTB could be up and running by next summer.

“We plan to keep it similar to Lockport,” LaRocco said. “We’ll have a few more TVs for the horses.”

The Orland Hills location would be slightly smaller than the Lockport Fat Sam’s, he said.

LaRocco said he’s thinking of calling the new venture Triple Crown, a horseracing term that refers to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

Some Orland Hills residents have voiced opposition to the new business, citing village ordinances passed in 2001 and 2006 that may prohibit gambling in town.

Orland Park Going Bananas

A new gourmet coffee shop and café hopes to open next week at 15447 S. 94th Avenue in Orland Park.

Blissful Banana Café owner Cynthia De Zutter, of Orland Hills, says everything on the menu will be made in-house and good for you.

“We’re steering toward healthy,” she said. “We won’t have any fryers and all of our lunch meats will be nitrate-free.”

De Zutter said the café will feature gourmet coffee, scones, muffins, side salads and a frozen concoction called a Banana Whip.

“We use pure bananas that are whipped into a custard-like soft ice cream,” she said. “Everyone who tries it will love it.”

The café will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

I’ll have more once they open their doors.

Piggly Wiggly Buys Piece of Tinley Plaza

Inland Real Estate Corp. recently sold 61,000 square feet of the Park Center Plaza at 16000 S. Harlem Ave. in Tinley Park to Piggly Wiggly Midwest LLC for $3 million.

The space is leased by . The rest of the plaza remains the property of Inland Real Estate Corp.

Piggly Wiggly has said it has no intention of taking over the space.

Marquette Bank Sends Care Packages to Troops

recently shipped more than 65 care packages to Illinois soldiers stationed overseas.

The holiday packages were sent to troops whose names were submitted by customers, neighbors and bank employees.

“Our Adopt-a-Soldier Program is our way of showing support for the troops and brightening up their holidays,” said Georgeanne Kruger, assistant vice president. “We thought it was especially important that care packages be sent to Illinois soldiers stationed in Afghanistan since they will likely not be coming home this December.”   

Packages were prepared by Marquette Bank employees and included snacks, personal hygiene products, DVDs, games and other items not readily available in combat zones. Items were collected at all 24 Marquette Bank locations. Each care package contained a handmade holiday wreath made and donated by Tinley Park resident Nancy Hall.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bob@chicago-patch.com.

You can also catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at www.southlandbusinessnews.blogspot.com.

If you're interested in more local happenings, check out Orland Park business news and Tinley Park business news.