A few eyesores in Orland Park are coming down.
The Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees voted at the Oct. 19 meeting to award Markham-based KLF Enterprises a pair of contracts for demolition of buildings on the properties of 15151 Harlem Ave. and buildings on 17101 and 17171 Wolf Road.
KLF earned a $59,400 bid plus a contingency of $5,000 for a total not to exceed $64,400 for the Harlem Avenue property which used to house the Prairie House Garden Center, which has been shuttered since 2017. It is close to 4.5 acres with a farmhouse plus a residential structure.
“The only reason it’s being maintained is because the village has been maintaining it for some time,” Village Manager Goerge Koczwara said. “The boarding was something that the village did.
“We took possession of it about a month ago through court action. It was abandoned. This demolition will allow the structures to come down and ultimately the future of that property will be determined by the board.”
He added that the demolition will provide a safter environment in that area.
The Wolf Road projects are for $77,000 plus a $5,000 contingency for a contract not to exceed $82,000.
Those properties housed El Cortez restaurant and a school bus depot.
The restaurant closed in 2010 and the village used eminent domain to acquire the property late last year with the idea of alleviating flooding at the Marley Creek basin.
The board paid $290,000 for that property.
The village also purchased the 6-acre bus depot property for $1.3 million to prevent an unwanted repossession lot from buying the land and opening a business there. That can also be used for flooding prevention purposes.
Koczwara said the demolition on the properties will be swift.
“All of this is going to be happening in the coming weeks,” he said. “I think the folks who live in those areas are going to be quite happy having those eyesores come down.”
