NEW LENOX – Village trustees will vote on two contracts Monday night to bring a Pete’s Fresh Market and a Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant to the north side of Route 30 and is expected to put in about $2.3 million to make it happen.

However, the contracts will be contingent upon the results of a $60,000 study of the property the village approved in September, which will evaluate the property’s soil, as well a site plan that works for all the businesses involved, said Mayor Tim Baldermann in a phone interview.

The 9.5-acre property is located at the northwest corner of Route 30 and N. Vancina Lane and has been vacant for more than 20 years. The preliminary site plan the village is working on with the other parties would include the 60,000-square-foot grocery store and the 12,000-square-foot restaurant, as well as a separate 15,000-square-foot building which will be owned by Pete’s and would hold retail businesses.

Baldermann said that village residents have been requesting a Cooper’s Hawk and a grocery store like Pete’s for a long time, on social media and through phone calls and emails.

“For years, people have been wanting this and we are excited to be closer to getting it done,” Baldermann said.

He stressed that the deal is dependent on the site plan “working for everybody,” but added that he does not anticipate any real problems with getting it finalized.

“If this works for all parties, this will be a great addition to our community,” he said.

Baldermann said that the businesses will not only bring in more amenities for residents, as well as jobs and sales tax dollars for the village and schools, but also will boost the other businesses in the area.

“It’s a good investment for the village. These are highly successful businesses that are growing.”

As part of the contracts up for approval by the Village Board on Monday night, Pete’s will purchase the entire property but then the village will purchase about 2.5 acres from Pete’s and build a pad for the construction of the Cooper’s Hawk. It will then sell that prepared site to the restaurant to start its construction.

The estimated total cost for the proposal (not including the construction costs for the two businesses) is about $7 million, with the village putting in about one third.

Baldermann said that the village will put in an estimated $4.5 million initially with the purchase of the property, the site study, improvements on the property and building the pad, but then will sell the property to Copper’s Hawk for about $2.2 million.

The remaining $2.3 million of its investment is expected to be recouped through sales tax in the first five or six years once the businesses are up and running, he said.

“In this day and age, [a municipality] has to be a partner for a development like this [to happen],” Baldermann said. “This is the deal that the village struck, and the board will vote on Monday night.”

Baldermann is optimistic about the village getting back a good return on its investment. He said that the village “conservatively” expects about $450,000 a year from sales tax from these two businesses alone, “but every year after that is profit for our town.”

With the additional retail businesses [which have yet to be determined] and the expected boost to the sales of other businesses in the area, that number will only go up, Baldermann said.

He said that with the results of the site study and the site plan expected to be completed in the next two weeks, the village expects to close on the property sometime in January.

Construction will start after that with Cooper’s Hawk expected to be open either next fall or in the spring of 2019. Pete’s will take a little longer and is expected to open in 2020.