History
The five original oases were built in conjunction with the original tollway construction in 1959. They featured Standard Oil (Amoco) gas stations and Fred Harvey restaurants, and were something of a novelty in the region - becoming destinations in and of themselves for driving customers. The Lincoln Oasis was added in 1968 and was unique from the previous five oases in that it was an all-steel building designed by architect David Haid, a one-time student and employee of the world-renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The DeKalb Oasis opened in 1975 and was different from the prior six in that it was the only one of seven oases to not be constructed over the tollway. In the mid 1970s, Howard Johnson's took over the restaurants. One of the oases even made an appearance on the silver screen when Carrie Fisher attacks The Blues Brothers at the Des Plaines Oasis in the famous 1980 film.
From 2003 to 2005, an extensive renovation program of these oases was completed. This involved demolishing the old oases structures down to the bridge deck and replacing them with new buildings. Where in the previous buildings the view of the highways were blocked by the vendor restaurants, in the new buildings large expanses of glass are used to create a sense of openness, and to give patrons better views of the highway. The steel truss design also has greater roof height (nearly 30 feet / 9.1 metres) than the old buildings, which increases visibility for the oases. The architects for the project were Cordogan Clark & Associates. The gas stations were rebuilt with canopies to cover the gas pumps. The oases were redeveloped at no cost to the ISTHA or the Illinois taxpayers. The $95 million investment was provided by Wilton Partners of Los Angeles, California, and ExxonMobil in exchange for a 25 year lease. Under the lease, Wilton would pay ISTHA a percentage of vendor sales with a minimum of $750,000 per year.
The lease agreements between ISTHA, Wilton Partners, and various vendors have come under investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. This investigation, reported on 30 December 2005, will determine if a conflict of interest existed between the lessees and a political fundraiser for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (Antoin Rezko). DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett had also requested documents pertaining to these leases earlier in 2005. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Subway restaurants in two oases are managed by the nephew of Tony Rezko, the controversial political fundraiser. In response, tollway spokesmen noted that Wilton Partners was selected during the administration of Governor George Ryan and that the lease gives Wilton discretion to select the individual vendors.
News accounts quoted businessmen who claimed that Jay Wilton, the President of Wilton Partners, encouraged them to donate funds to Blagojevich's 2003 gubernatorial campaign. In December 2003, Wilton Partners reportedly gave Rezko's Panda Express franchise a 50% reduction in its rent at the oases. In January 2007, Wilton stopped making required payments to ISTHA for the oases, and by February 2008, when the back rent grew to $1.4 million, Wilton and ISTHA entered into settlement negotiations. However, in July 2008, the Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan rejected a proposed settlement where ISTHA would forego the $1.4 million in back rent in exchange for Wilton dropping a claim of $4.7 million for lost business due to tollway construction. In the spring of 2009, Wilton Partners' lender, iStar Financial, foreclosed on the oases. Subsequently, the court appointed U.S. Equities, a Chicago firm, to manage the oases pending the outcome of the foreclosure. Further, another food vendor operating in all seven oases who donated to Blagojevich has also received press attention for failure to pay sales taxes and state unemployment insurance.
On December 9, 2009, a truck driver standing at the gas station parking lot of the Belvidere oasis was killed when debris thrown by an explosion at an adjacent factory struck him. The six story factory building was hundreds of feet away from the oasis.
Read more about this topic: Illinois Tollway Oasis
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