Construction

By Sam Bader, Horizon Construction Team LLC | 20+ years building retail, restaurant, and franchise projects across Chicagoland | Published September 22, 2026 Quick Answer A restaurant buildout in Chicago usually takes 5 to 9 months from signed lease to opening day, and most of

By Sam Bader, Horizon Construction Team LLC | 20+ years building retail, restaurant, and franchise projects across Chicagoland | Published September 21, 2026 Quick Answer Most new retail in Naperville in 2026 is not going on empty land. It is going into old shopping centers

By Sam Bader, Horizon Construction Team LLC | 20+ years building retail, restaurant, and franchise projects across Chicagoland | Published September 21, 2026 Quick Answer Every new retail store and restaurant in Illinois must meet three sets of accessibility rules: the federal ADA, the Illinois

Strip mall construction looks simple from the street. A row of storefronts, a parking lot, a pylon sign. Under that simple picture sits a long list of decisions that decide whether the center leases fast or sits half empty. This guide walks through the parts

By Sam Bader, Horizon Construction Team LLC | 20+ years building retail, restaurant, and franchise projects across Chicagoland | Published September 11, 2026 Quick Answer Opening three franchise locations at once is almost always the wrong call, even when your development agreement is pressuring you. The

By Sam Bader, Horizon Construction Team LLC | 20+ years building retail, restaurant, and franchise projects across Chicagoland | Published September 11, 2026 Quick Answer A franchise buildout in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs typically takes 9 to 14 months from site approval to grand opening.

Quick Answer Commercial construction permits in Chicago and the suburbs typically take 2 to 6 months from application to issuance, and longer when zoning relief, a state highway access permit, or a change of occupancy is involved. In the City of Chicago, most commercial work

Quick Answer Retail site development is everything outside the building footprint: parking, drives, stormwater detention, utilities, grading, landscaping, lighting, and accessible routes. On a ground-up retail project it commonly runs 15 to 30 percent of total construction cost, and it is decided almost entirely by