Glen Ellyn wants developer for ‘entrance way’
Glen Ellyn officials are looking for firms to submit redevelopment plans for a now-vacant space at the village’s northern gateway.
Until it was demolished last spring, a gas station sat at 825 N. Main St., which is near what is considered Stacy’s Corners — the intersection of Main and St. Charles and Geneva roads.
The village purchased the station last fall for redevelopment purposes. And with on-site environmental remediation moving along, village trustees decided Monday night to commence a request for proposals process.
“That corner has so much potential that I could see us generating a lot of interest,” said Trustee Diane McGinley. “It’s an entrance way to our town ... It’s not a stretch to ask people to develop there.”
The village contracted with PPK Architects this spring to develop conceptual plans for the site.
Those plans, which all depicted commercial uses, were evaluated by the village’s plan commission in June.
The commission’s feedback was mixed. Some commissioners desired zero-foot front-yard building setbacks, envisioning Stacy’s Corners as “a second downtown,” while others preferred larger setbacks, like the Walgreens store at the Corners, according to Staci Hulseberg, the village’s director of planning and development.
The commission did generally agree, however, that any new development should be sensitive to the area’s historic character, she said.
On Monday, village trustees indicated a preference toward the site having a retail use, in order to generate sales tax revenue — in addition to property taxes.
Hulseberg said the village could later place a deed restriction on the property at the time of sale that prohibits certain “undesirable” uses.
The village board will likely discuss the 825 N. Main St. site again in the future because of remaining questions on site uses and other guidelines, Hulseberg said.