The Joliet City Council on Tuesday narrowly gave the OK for new self-storage facilities – one to be built by Menards and the other to be built on a site turned down twice before.

Menards will turn the old Bookie Magee’s, a former off-track betting parlor, bar and restaurant vacated in 2022, into self storage.

“We have tried to market it for many years to get a new restaurant in there,” Josh Melder, senior corporate counsel for Menards, told the City Council.

Menards is the developer of the Jefferson Street shopping center that includes its own Menards store, a Walmart and other retailers and restaurants.

The old Bookie Magee’s is in the rear of the property, next to an Illinois Secretary of State driver’s license facility, and not a prime retail location.

Likewise, Ron Schelling told the council that he has been unable to find other users than a self-storage operation for the Drauden Road property he has been trying to develop.

This was Schelling’s third attempt since 2021 to get council approval for a self-storage facility that will be next to a Gas N Wash fuel center at the corner of Drauden and Theodore Street.

He was represented by attorney Nathaniel Washburn.

“My client has worked diligently over the last two and a half years to find alternative users for the site,” Washburn said. “None have presented themselves.”

Council members did not discuss either project before voting 5-4 both times to approve the self-storage facilities.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy, who casts the last vote and in effect broke ties by voting for both projects, said he did not see any reason to vote against the self-storage operations.

“There seems to be a need for them,” D’Arcy said.

The Drauden Road facility would be one-story and low enough to be sheltered from nearby neighborhoods, he said. D’Arcy noted the Menards site is not in a residential area.

Councilman Larry Hug voted against both projects.

“We don’t need any more self-storage facilities,” he said after the meeting.