Bloomingdale looking to buy Old Town parcel

Bloomingdale plans to buy a vacant commercial building along Lake Street to lay the groundwork for future improvements to the village's Old Town area.

The two-story building at 112 W. Lake St. has stood empty since it housed an Alltemp Fireplace store. Officials say acquiring the structure, which is located in Old Town, will give the village greater options if it decides to make streetscape improvements to that area.

"It's a first step," Village President Franco Coladipietro said. "It's one of the first pieces to putting together our Lake Street redevelopment plan and particularly the Old Town redevelopment."

Bloomingdale wants to buy the building for roughly $365,000; the deal has yet to be finalized.

If the village gets the structure, there are no immediate plans to demolish it, Coladipietro said.

"Probably what we will do in the short run is look at leasing the space while we decide what to do," he said.

Coladipietro said the village is in the process of talking to urban designers, but no plans have been drafted for any streetscape improvements.

Still, officials wanted to act now to acquire the building, which sits at the southwest corner of Lake and Third streets.

"By at least controlling that corner, it gives us some flexibility going forward with our planning stages," he said.

After being elected village president in April 2013, Coladipietro said his top priority was redevelopment of the Lake Street corridor and Old Town. The village has since hired an economic development coordinator and is working on a Lake Street study.

"We had reached a point where those areas simply weren't going to go through a redevelopment process without some type of planning on the village's part," Coladipietro said.

Coladipietro said he hopes the village's acquisition of the Old Town building motivates developers to buy other vacant structures along Lake Street.

"Being able to show initiative on the part of the village, I think, generates interest and enthusiasm on the part of developers to come in and potentially do some redevelopment work," Coladipietro said.