For more than a decade, the most-passed empty building in town has been the shuttered Kmart at 9548 Wicker Avenue. If you live in St. John, you have driven by it thousands of times. In 2026 it stops being a landmark of what used to be and becomes the pivot point of what comes next.
Here is the argument this post makes: the wave of openings scheduled for St. John this year is not a random cluster of retail news. It is the town's commercial center of gravity shifting. Wicker Avenue is finally getting its grocery anchor back, and at the same time, a new half-mile "main street" is being built a mile and a half east on U.S. 231. Two commercial spines, not one. That changes where residents will actually spend their weekends by the end of the year.
The Kmart lot, finally
The building that has sat vacant since 2012 is being replaced by a 70,000-square-foot Jewel-Osco with Starbucks, deli and hot foods, sushi, bakery, produce, meat and seafood, beer, wine and liquor, pharmacy, and Drive Up and Go. The town describes it as a $26 million transformation with a drive-through pharmacy, indoor dining, and a Starbucks, while the developer's own numbers put the redevelopment at closer to $31 million. Either figure makes it the largest single retail investment the town has landed in years.
Timing matters here. Construction is underway after officials broke ground on September 4, with plans for the store to open in 2026. Industry watchers who follow Albertsons openings closely suggest summer or fall 2026, with late fall being the more realistic bet. If you are planning your grocery routine around the new store, budget for a Q4 opening and treat anything earlier as a bonus. The redevelopment also funds infrastructure the town has needed for years, including new access to 96th Place through the Redevelopment Commission.
The corridor is doubling, not just filling in
The Jewel-Osco is the anchor, but it is not the whole story. Here is the practical map of what has already opened or is opening on the two corridors this year:
| Project | Corridor | What's coming | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jewel-Osco | Wicker Ave (9548) | Grocery, Starbucks, pharmacy | Opens 2026 |
| Franciscan Health outpatient facility | St. John | ExpressCare, primary care, imaging, lab | Complete by end of 2026 |
| Arcadia Center expansion | Wicker Ave at 101st Pl | AT&T, The UPS Store, Sport Clips, Tropical Smoothie Cafe | Under construction |
| St. John Commons | Calumet Ave | Daily Grind, Great American Bagel, Moda Beauty Bar, Wisely Advised | Open, more filling in |
| LBL "main street" | Parrish Ave and U.S. 231 | Restaurants with outdoor seating, second-floor offices | Design approved |
| Suncrest Christian retail center | Wicker Ave area | 21,068 sq ft leased retail | Planned |
The Franciscan Health project deserves its own note. The new facility will offer ExpressCare, primary care and specialty physician offices, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound and laboratory services, with completion scheduled by the end of 2026. For residents who currently drive to Crown Point or Munster for imaging or a specialist visit, that is a real change in the weekly calendar, not a marketing bullet.
The Arcadia Center expansion at Wicker Avenue and 101st Place is the least glamorous of the group and probably the one you will use most. The multimillion-dollar expansion added eight storefronts and is bringing AT&T, The UPS Store, Sport Clips and Tropical Smoothie Cafe to town. A UPS Store on Wicker means one less trip to Schererville for a return label.
Why the LBL "downtown" is the actual news
The Jewel-Osco fills a hole. The LBL Development project at Parrish Avenue and U.S. 231 is what changes the town's shape.
LBL Development is planning a mixed-use development at the southeast corner of U.S. 231 and Parrish, and the town council has approved the design of the commercial buildings, agreed to allow restaurants on the first floor and offices on the second floor. The design is unusual for St. John. Parking lots will run along U.S. 231, while the buildings themselves face a new "main street" to the south with on-street parking and sidewalks in front, and every restaurant is required to have outdoor seating. That is a walking district, not a strip mall.
The scale is bigger than the visual makes it sound. The commercial district along U.S. 231 from Parrish Avenue to Park Place will include a 12,240-square-foot retail building and two more 14,250-square-foot retail buildings. LBL's Steve Kil described it in a council meeting as a "little" downtown that is a half a mile long, with a variety of restaurants that have expressed interest. Tenants have not been announced yet, but the physical layout has already been signed off on.
The reason this matters for daily life: for the last decade, "going out" in St. John has meant a Wicker Avenue address. Once the LBL district lands its first restaurants, residents on the east side of town gain a walkable Friday-night option that does not require a car trip to Wicker or a drive to downtown Crown Point. Two centers of gravity means two different weekend routines are possible without leaving the 46373.
What already anchors your week
None of the 2026 pipeline replaces what is already working. If you moved to St. John in the last few years, the resident calendar still runs through the same handful of independently owned spots.
Breakfast and lunch on Wicker are covered by AVGO at 9321 Wicker, which pairs classic breakfast with a full-service bar, and Olive Cafe up the street at 8412 Wicker. Evenings and live music sit with 41 North Tavern at 8101 Wicker, which runs a rotating calendar of live bands, DJ nights, Trivia Mondays, karaoke, bingo and Paint and Sip events. Livio's Restaurant and Bar at 8267 Wicker holds down the neighborhood Italian slot. St. John Malt Brothers stays on the short list for local beer and a burger. The Shrine of Christ's Passion continues to bring in visitors from outside town and shows up on almost every "things to do near Saint John" list on Tripadvisor.
Read the openings list against that baseline and you can see what the town is filling in. There is no full-service Italian gap. There is no craft beer gap. The gaps being filled are groceries, walk-in medical, everyday services like shipping and haircuts, and a walkable evening district. That is a town maturing into its population, not chasing trends.
The one number that puts the pipeline in context
The town's population has surged by around 25% over the last five years, according to U.S. Census data, growing to an estimated 25,000 residents, many recent transplants from Illinois. St. John Town Manager Bill Manousopoulos put it more directly, noting that the town went from 8,000 people 30 years ago to more than 24,000. The retail is not leading the growth. It is finally catching up to it.
That framing helps explain why so many projects hit the ground in a single year. The developer building the Jewel-Osco has already said publicly that "We love St. John. We think it's a great community for development. We would love to come back here and work on another project". Read that as: expect more announcements before the Jewel-Osco even opens its doors.
A resident's watch list for the rest of 2026
If you live here and want to track what actually lands and when, these are the specific milestones worth watching:
- Jewel-Osco opening date announcement. Groundbreaking was September 4, 2025. A formal opening date will likely be shared 60 to 90 days out. Expect the announcement in mid-to-late 2026.
- Franciscan Health ribbon cutting. Scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. Watch for a soft opening on ExpressCare first, then specialty services.
- First named tenant at the LBL "main street." Design is approved. The next public signal will be a lease announcement. That is the moment the downtown project stops being a rendering.
- Suncrest Christian Church retail center. Suncrest, which is planning a relocation, is looking to build a 21,068-square-foot retail center that it will lease out. Site plan and tenants have not been announced yet.
- Remaining spaces at St. John Commons. Another six to eight businesses should open soon in the recently constructed strip mall beyond the tenants already open.
- New access to 96th Place. Infrastructure funded by the Jewel-Osco redevelopment. Worth watching if that intersection is on your commute.
If you own a home in St. John, none of this requires you to do anything. The value of watching it is more mundane and more useful: you get to be the neighbor who actually knows when the store opens, where the next restaurant is landing, and why the corner your kids pass every day looks different this fall.
When you are ready to talk about how a changing corridor affects what your home is worth, or what to look for in a St. John neighborhood you have not lived in yet, our team lives and works in this market every day. The Gina Guarino Group tracks the projects, the timelines, and the block-by-block detail behind them. Let Our Team, Be Your Team.
