By Neil Johnson njohnson@gazettextra.com March 22, 2022

 

JANESVILLE

A Chili’s it is.

The owner of a vacant lot at Milton Avenue and Humes Road on Janesville’s northeast side told The Gazette his family’s trust is readying the corner lot where he razed a former Perkins restaurant building last August.
 
Jeff Woodman is a Verona resident whose family for generations has owned the hot corner on the city’s busy, northeast side retail strip. He said casual restaurant chain Chili’s is ready to pull the trigger on developing a 5,100-square-foot restaurant on the site.

In a phone interview Monday, Woodman didn’t pinpoint a timeline on the project, but he said he has been hashing out a development deal with Chili’s for parts of the last two years.

Negotiations and the plan itself had gone on hold during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Woodman said.

Woodman said he said he’s now “excited” to get moving on a new use for the vacant lot.

The Perkins had remained vacant for more than a year after it closed in 2019 as part of corporate downsizing by Perkins’ parent company. Woodman ultimately razed the Perkins last year when it became clear developers and restaurant operators were interested in the property but not the existing building.

Woodman last year told The Gazette a few other chain restaurant companies eyed the spot, but those companies would only develop if Woodman sold them the parcel.

Woodman said he intends to retain ownership of the land, which is where his family operated a farm before it became the busy commercial hub it is now.

On Monday, Woodman said he had earlier discussions with a local restaurant operator who was considering adding a second restaurant location in Janesville, but he said those talks fell apart.

Brinker International, the holding company that owns and operates Chili’s and other chain restaurant brands, would handle development and construction of the Chili’s, Woodman indicated.
 
Chili’s is known for its slow-cooked, baby-back ribs and fajitas, but it has a broad menu. Chili’s has locations in Madison, Delavan and Rockford, Illinois.

Monday evening, the city of Janesville’s Plan Commission heard a brief description of the proposed Chili’s project.

The mention came as a procedural move by the city’s planning department to set an April 4 public hearing on special zoning requests Woodman and Chili’s still must get approved.

Those items include plans to rework a traffic entry to the planned parking lot at Chili’s and shared utility linkage, the city’s planning department said in a memo.

Woodman said the parking lot entry would be moved so it funnels out on the west side of the property rather than straight into a frontage road on the property’s east side.

Another difference between the planned Chili’s and the former Perkins, Woodman said, would be the Chili’s positioning on the lot. The Perkins was set back on the far west edge of the property. The new restaurant would be situated more in the center of the lot.

“Chili’s likes to be in the center of a lot so they have parking all around. So it’ll be be a nice, visible and aesthetically pleasing building,” Woodman said.

Woodman said he sees evidence that more people are beginning to return to in-restaurant dining based on emerging foot traffic into restaurants up and down the Milton Avenue and Humes Road corridors.

He added that he thinks the local restaurant industry is now on the mend.

“Some of the restaurants, it was like going 15 rounds against the champ,” Woodman said. “None of them came out without any bruises, but some got bloodied, and some others got knocked out. That’s the hard, cold facts, but things are on the rebound.”

He said he sees “a lot of good things” happening along the Milton Avenue corridor.

“That’s where the growth is, and so we’re happy to be a part of that,” Woodman said.

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