Hearing set on Fox River Grove's downtown redevelopment plans
A massive, $250 million redevelopment project in Fox River Grove's downtown is kicking into high gear.
The 20-acre downtown redevelopment would comprise a mix of apartments, commercial office space and retail built in four phases along both sides of Route 14 from Algonquin Road on the east to the Fox River on the west.
The proposed concept plan, by Gart Partners, calls for building roughly 500 apartments, about 90,000 square feet of commercial/retail space, and a hotel/marina.
It is a long-awaited transformation for the 96-year-old community whose downtown has been struggling for years, officials said.
A public hearing before the village's planning and economic development commission is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at village hall, 305 Illinois St. The developer will provide a detailed presentation of the plans then.
"We've been working on it for six years," Village President Robert Nunamaker said. "We've got a wonderful train station and nobody lives nearby, and the shops have all closed. We're trying to revitalize that."
The developer now is seeking approval of the overall conceptual plan and special use permits for all four phases of development, and specific approvals of preliminary site plans for phase one, including engineering, stormwater and landscaping, Village Administrator Derek Soderholm said.
The first phase of development would involve building roughly 300 rental apartments south and west of Route 14 on several lots along and between Lincoln Avenue and Algonquin Road. The site now is home to a couple of manufacturing companies, four aging apartment buildings, three small houses, and a former lumber yard taken over by a construction company.
A few years ago, the village hired three firms to conduct a downtown study that showed a need for higher-density living around the commuter train station along Metra's Union Pacific/Northwest Line.
Transit-oriented developments are all the rage with millennials who commute far for work, like to rent instead of own a home and prefer living in condominiums or apartments near train stations, Nunamaker said.
"We've got the river, railroad station, a lot of people going through town on Route 14," he said. "You really need these commuter living accommodations and commercial (businesses) with shops and restaurants. This would be the new downtown."
Investment had to be initiated by private developers. In 2012, the village established a special taxing district downtown to help ease redevelopment, officials said.
"The only thing the village can do is to make contributions to the effort," Nunamaker said. "We're excited that at least somebody wants to be a partner with us. If, and as, it happens, there is a lot of work for the village."
Gart Partners signed a memorandum of understanding with the village last year. The developer also built Arlington Town Square in Arlington Heights, Metropolitan Square in Des Plaines, the Tabor Hills senior living development in Naperville, and the Promenade Point Shopping Center in Bolingbrook.
Soderholm said the developer was hopeful of starting construction before winter with estimated completion of phase one in the spring of 2016. Final engineering and building plans likely will be submitted and reviewed by the village board in August before permits can be issued.
Officials also are revising the boundaries of a downtown tax increment financing district - where property taxes generated that go to local governments are frozen at a certain point with any remaining property taxes going back into the development - to incorporate the entire redevelopment area.
The developer has agreed to design and construct sewer, water, street, traffic control and other necessary infrastructure for the entire project and could be reimbursed for some of the costs with funds collected from that taxing district, Soderholm said.
Comments and objections to the special-use request can be made in writing and filed with the village clerk's office before the July 14 public hearing or in person.