Wheeling approves makeover of former Wickes site

In two years, the transformation of the abandoned Wickes furniture site in Wheeling could well be under way with the construction of cobblestone streets, boutiques, restaurants and a concert venue.

The Wheeling village board unanimously approved the $100 million project Monday, with Village President Judy Abruscato speaking for her trustees after the vote was taken.

“We’re ready,” she told the project’s developer, Urban R2, a Chicago-based company.

The project would include 170,000 square feet, including a 70,000-square-foot national retailer to anchor the site. The smaller boutiques could include specialty shops, a gourmet food store, a bakery and restaurants. Plans also call for two 12-story residential buildings, a parking garage and a redone Metra station.

The developer also wants to relocate parts of Northgate Parkway to make room for a green-space area that could be closed off for art fairs, pottery classes and jewelry exhibitions, according to the project’s master plan.

“Every one of my projects has been successful,” said Gary Rosenberg, president of Urban R2. “This particular project is in our backyard, so it is very near and dear to our hearts.”

The anchor tenant would go at the site’s southern end along with an entertainment venue — similar to the Park West in Chicago — to host “myriad events such as concerts, plays, philanthropic affairs, weddings and cinematic shows,” according to the plan.

Wheeling has been trying to redevelop the site since Wickes declared bankruptcy in 2008 and eventually went into liquidation for failure to find a buyer or an investor. That same year, Wheeling took control of the development by buying the empty building with a $3.775 million bid that was accepted when a bankruptcy court judge approved the sale. More than two years prior, when the property was up for sale, offers ranged as high as $12 million, according to village officials.

The money for the sale came from tax increment financing reserves; the property since 2003 has been part of a TIF district, where tax revenue for government bodies is frozen and revenue from increasing property values is put toward development.

In August, an investor asked the village board to extend a promise to give him $2.5 million in tax increment finance funds to fix the site’s stormwater problem. The investor expressed hopes that 2011 would lure a developer to the site and that the project — four years in the making — would finally materialize.

Urban R2 will be asking the village for TIF funds, but it’s too early to know how much, said Brad Friedman, a business developer with Urban R2.

“It will be going toward new streets, sidewalks and landscaping,” he said after Monday’s village board meeting.

Urban R2 has until Dec. 1 to get a final plan approved by the village, said Peter Vadopalas, Wheeling’s director of economic development.