The developers of a proposed $800 million multi-purpose complex in south suburban Country Club Hills said upon completion it will create 12,000 new jobs and spur more economic development to improve the local economy.
“The sole purpose of this project is to bring jobs to the area and to recycle money back into the community,” said Lafayette Gatling, president of Gatling Community Development Inc., developers for the project.
The project, Sierra Ridge at Country Club Hills, will encompass a 14,000-seat convention and entertainment center and a 1,000-room, five-star hotel. The complex will be built on 500,000 square feet of land Gatling purchased in 1994. The Sierra project will be adjacent to a 68.18-acre strip mall that includes a Wal-mart Super Center, Applebee’s restaurant, Starbucks, Bank of America, and a 16-screen Loew’s Cineplex theatre.
The high traffic of visitors that come through Country Club Hills supports such as audacious project, Gatling added. “We did a feasibility study and it showed that 1.8 million people visited the Loew’s movie theatre alone last year,” Gatling said. “With the number of people passing through the area a project this magnitude is warranted.” Residents in Country Club Hills said they are excited about more employment opportunities.
“I would love to work in my neighborhood and not have to drive to Chicago for work,” said Dwayne Artis, 43, who works at the Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown Chicago. “Gas prices have forced me to take the Metra train to work and I do not like it. I prefer to drive to work. I could go home and have lunch with my wife who is a homemaker.” The possibility of eating lunch at home is a plus for anyone looking to save on gas and food prices, said Krystal Evans, 38.
“I spend about $150 a week driving to work and parking and about $30 a week buying lunch,” added Evans. “So you tell me, wouldn’t you want to eliminate this expense?” College students said they too need jobs especially since many of them do not own cars. “I don’t have a car so I have to rely on pubic transportation to look for work and sometimes that can be a drag,” said Kenneth Sawyer, 19, a freshman at South Suburban Community College in South Holland.
“Local students should get local jobs, period.” Candice Parker, 20, a sophomore at Prairie State College in south suburban Chicago Heights agrees. “I just hope that this time the people of Country Club Hills get first preference for jobs over the outsiders who seem to always come here and take our jobs from us,” she said. “My mom be ‘trippin’ sometimes with her car so I don’t even ask anymore if can I use it to go look for a job.” Gatling said he will make sure local residents particularly Blacks get their fair share of jobs.
“We will make sure at least 30 percent of the jobs go to minorities because it is the community who made this all happen,” he said. Gatling also owns Gatling’s Chapel Inc., a Black-owned funeral parlor company in Chicago. Currently Gatling’s has one South Side location, one in Dolton and a third in Country Club Hills. And as business continues to grow Gatling said he may open a chapel on the West Side and possibly out-of-state.
Construction is expected to begin fall 2009 with completion by 2012. A request for proposals will be issued in the next 60 days, said Ernestine Beck-Fulgham, project director for Gatling Community Development. Financing for the project has not yet been determined. The village of Country Club Hills already has a 2,000-seat outdoor theatre and Fulgham said village officials are not concerned business would be hurt with a new entertainment venue.
Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch was unavailable for comment. And real estate developers are waiting in the wing to see how well the complex will do before moving into the area with new projects, said Timothy Snow, a senior mortgage banker in the Calumet City office for Bank of America.
Gatling added if a third Chicago area airport were built in Peotone as proposed by some lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D- 2nd), who first proposed a Peotone airport, a 1,000-room hotel in Country Club Hills would become a magnet for new business.
______ Copyright 2008 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
