Kankakee Times

KANKAKEE — A new redevelopment agreement for a Ricky Rockets Fuel Center could boost the City of Kankakee’s budget by $6 million from sales and gaming receipts.

“This is the first major development project taking place on the east side of town and a gateway into our city," Kankakee Mayor Chasity-Wells Armstrong told the Kankakee Daily Journal. "I believe it will pay great dividends from this day moving forward.” 

Ricky Rockets Fuel Centers are a chain of convenience outlets that include a gas station, convenience store and express car wash. The company boasts of having clean restrooms, seating area for dining and free toy car rides for kids.

Officials indicated the new Kankakee location will offer a separate gaming room that will be open around the clock.

According to the Daily Journal report, the City of Kankakee will provide $2.2 million up front for infrastructure work. The development will be located where a Kmart store once stood for many years, just east of the Interstate 57 at the Exit 312 interchange.

Rick Heidner of Hoffman Estates, the owner of Ricky Rockets, said he is finalizing financing for the project, which will cost up to an estimated $12 million. The project could break ground by mid-year and open for business by the first part of 2021.

Burt Odelson, a local attorney, told the Daily Journal sales tax money generated from the project will help add about $250,000 annually toward the city’s underfunded police and fire pension accounts. He also noted the new revenues should help spark potential business development in the area.

The city is planning road upgrades near the project including $1.2 million for construction of the new North Eastgate Drive and $1 million for road work on interior roads, sidewalks and landscaping. The $1.2 million is being borrowed from Exit 308 Improvement District funds. The funds are expected to be repaid by this summer with the city selling bonds.

City planner Mike Hoffman said the project will also extend North Eastridge Drive.

“The extension not only provides more access to the project but creates a new front door into the Eastgate Industrial Park just east of the site, helping to promote development of some 290 acres of industrially zoned property,” Hoffman told the Daily Journal.