Business: West Parking Lot Project Affected Sales

A business owner in downtown Libertyville says his sales are down because of work on the west parking lot behind businesses on Milwaukee Avenue and .

“My sales are 30 percent because of the project and impact,” said Larry Bonker, owner of Bonkers on Main, 603 N. Milwaukee Ave., during the Parking Commission meeting Tuesday.

Bonker says there have been many inconveniences for loading, unloading as well as dealing with mud dragged into the store due to the construction.

The upside is the west parking lot is expected to be substantially completed by Oct. 1, according to village officials.

Village officials says they will start putting down pavement in the lot next week and hope to transfer overhead utilities to underground utilities within the next two weeks, depending on Commonwealth Edison’s schedule.

Once the lot is complete, it will contain 160 spaces and allow parking for 30 minutes, one hour and two hours, with the shortest parking times on the east side of the lot, according to village officials.

The project is funded through a tax-increment financing district established in 1986 to improve downtown Libertyville.

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