A new business has moved into the garage at 1313 Circle Ave., a staple since 1920.
It was originally the site of Thomas McQueen’s excavating and paving company, then housed Acme Resin, another waste hauling company and an automobile shop before SBC Waste Solutions recently moved in.
SBC Waste Solutions is a waste management service based out of Broadview that started in 2019. The company serves Chicagoland for commercial hauling and offers residential waste hauling in Bloomingdale, Indian Head Park, Winfield, Broadview and, as of April 1, Berwyn.
“We’re the only woman-owned [waste hauling] company in Chicago that does residential work as well as commercial and construction,” said Karen Coley, CEO of SBC Waste Solutions.
In addition to the garage at 1313 Circle Ave., SBC Waste Solutions bought about 5.2 acres of property between Circle and Hannah Avenues, extending south to 15th Street. The company has extended the leases for the other businesses on that land. Corey preferred not to share the names of those businesses and said it was too soon to tell if SBC would expand its presence on Circle Ave.
SBC Waste Solutions moved into Forest Park largely because of how close it is to Berwyn, as well as to recycling facilities and stations where trucks transfer trash.
“The proximity to a village is very sustainable because your trucks are on the road less,” Coley said.
Between their headquarters and maintenance facility in Broadview and new second location in Forest Park, SBC Waste Solutions operates 70 trucks, the newest fleet in Chicago, according to Coley.
But the trucks don’t carry waste through Broadview or Forest Park, instead using the sites as a staging area to store trucks. Coley said that SBC Waste Solution performs measures for rodent control weekly and washes trucks off-site. She added that SBC has been at their Broadview location for four years and has heard no gripes from locals about smell or traffic.
“We have residential units literally across the street from our driveway,” Coley said. “We’ve never had one complaint from that town because none of our trucks come in full. They always come in empty.”
“We want to be a very, very good neighbor to the towns that we service,” she added.
“I know there’s some chirping about people that aren’t happy about that being there,” said Steve Glinke, director for Forest Park’s Department of Public Health and Safety. But both SBC and the village are taking strides to reduce the impact to nearby residents. Glinke added, “We’re always advocating for these people.”
To make sure Circle Ave. doesn’t become congested, Forest Park closed cuts in the curb on the street so that empty waste haulers will access 1313 Circle Ave. by Hannah Ave. to the west.
SBC will also install a 480-foot long, 8-foot tall EcoStone fence in place of the current chain link fence to create a sound and aesthetic buffer. Coley said the fence is somewhat graffiti-proof and can be power washed.
SBC also is replacing the lot’s compacted gravel with pavement, Glinke estimated by the end of the summer. And the waste hauler is tuckpointing the garage, which is over 100 years old.
At 1313 Circle Ave., Thomas McQueen & Co. operated an excavating business before adding building and paving services. He also helped build a stretch of what was then called the Congress Street Super Highway, and is now named the Eisenhower Expressway. McQueen also housed heavy equipment at 1313 Circle Ave. and helped with the village’s snow removal.
“It’ll keep with the charm of the construction of that period, but it’ll get a nice facelift,” Coley said.