A new retail fashion boutique planned for the east end of downtown Oakton Street has village leaders convinced that aggressive incentive offers to help reshape the area are paying off.
Village Trustees Monday unanimously approved a grant of up to $50,000 for the owner of a new store named Nirvana, a boutique and spa, to set up shop at 4843 Oakton St.
Not only did the Downtown Interior Rehab Grant help bring a new store to Skokie, leaders say, but an original grant under the village’s Downtown Facade Assistance Program allowed the property owner to improve the building so prospective tenants would be interested.
Under that program, the facade of a deteriorating building on the 4800 block of Oakton Street was improved in 2010, and Nirvana now becomes the fourth recent retailer to take up space there, noted Economic Development Coordinator Tom Thompson.
Nirvana will become neighbor to Bughouse Studio, Drive Cleaning and Siunik, a soon-to-open Armenian restaurant, to fill out the enhanced structure.
Trustee Randy Roberts Monday emphasized that this one rehabbed building has stimulated four new businesses. He also pointed to the success of the interior rehab grant.
“I just like the idea that this is now our sixth project,” he said.
Most of the village’s grants to improve downtown commercial interiors have been for restaurants up until now, Thompson noted.
Other downtown businesses that have been awarded the same grant include Sweety Pies Bakery, which moved locations from one downtown spot to another; the Kabul House, Libertad, Siunik and Skokie Paint and Wallpaper, which was also relocated in downtown and is the only other non-restaurant on the list.
Under the interior rehab grant program, which went into effect in 2008 as part of a series of measures to attract more businesses to downtown, the village matches funds of up to $50,000 for qualifying projects.
“The interior rehab grant program is in recognition of the constant need for significant interior work in our older commercial spaces to facilitate restaurants and modern retail uses,” Thompson said in his report to the board.
Nirvana qualified for the maximum grant because the interior rehab project is estimated to cost $144,000. Owner Sangita Shrestha’s plans call for “a significant build-out” in space that was once occupied by a candy and nut store.
Shrestha said she will construct two new rooms, expand the existing bathroom, replace the heating and cooling system and ceiling tiles, install new hardwood floors and make improvements to plumbing, electrical and other systems.
The work will involve basic demolition, drywall, drop ceiling installation, removal of old floors, repair of concrete floors, new porcelain tiling, doors, millwork and frames, fixtures and permanent shelving as well as other retailer-related equipment and improvements, Thompson said.
The owner plans to open in March.
Shrestha has had a shop at Navy Pier for the last 16 years, which she says she will continue to operate.
Her Skokie store, which will occupy about 1,800 square feet, will be divided into three parts. The first section will sell fashion items such as clothing, jewelry and accessories, she said.
The second section will be devoted to aromatherapy and sell candles, incense, massage oils and other such items. Shrestha said this section will have “a very organic feel to it.”
The third section will be devoted more to gift items such art, modern wall paintings, and tapestries.
“Whichever will have that Nirvana feel to it,” she said. “We believe that beauty is not only outward. It has to be in your mind, too.”
Ninety percent of the store will be devoted to retail while 10 percent will include a spa of sorts — an area where some of the products can be demonstrated.
Thompson said there are no other businesses currently with a pending application for an interior rehab grant “but there’s a couple of possibilities.”
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