Study: Fewer retail, more service companies needed along East Algonquin Road
Algonquin officials may target more service companies and multifamily housing for future development along East Algonquin Road.
One of the oldest commercial corridors in the village, East Algonquin Road has struggled to maintain a successful economic profile for the past 20 years, said Russ Farnum, village community development director. Though it is a high-traffic area with plenty of nearby housing, he said, it doesn't keep up with other commercial roads, such as Randall Road.
In May, the village hired Gruen Gruenand Associates, Deerfield-based company specializing in market studies and land use analyses, to conduct a study of the businesses and economic activity along East Algonquin Road between River Road and Route 25.
"We want to know what we can do to create a successful, vibrant and sustainable corridor," Farnum said.
The study yielded several helpful results, he added, the most significant being that the area already has more retail space than what could be successful, leading to higher vacancies and lower rent.
"(The retail) we have today is pretty much what we're going to need to service all the future housing," Farnum said.
About 30 percent of the 35,000 square feet of convenience and neighborhood retail space in the corridor is vacant, the study concluded.
To fix that problem, the study suggests filling some of that space with service companies, such as medical or health clinics or financial consulting companies.
The study indicates that about two-thirds of the current 867,000 square feet of building space is used by retail, restaurants, grocery stores and drugstores.
"The moral of the story here, so to speak, is that since we already have too much retail, we're not going to get much more of that," Farnum said. "We should be looking at service uses and possibly industrial uses."
The study also suggests adding more recreational facilities, such as parks or aquatic centers, to bring more people to the area.
Additionally, about 200 acres of vacant land remain available for future development, part of which is already dedicated to two future residential projects: the Glenloch and Prairie Path subdivisions, primarily comprsing houses, Farnum said.
But the study suggests also adding more multifamily or mixed-use housing developments to the area to increase the population density.
The village's next step, Farnum said, is to share the results of the study with land owners and developers, particularly those with vacant properties.
"We wanted to be able to understand how the economics of that corridor work," he said. "Now, we have a much deeper understanding of that so we can ... determine not just what we want to see but what will work to make East Algonquin Road a successful and sustainable corridor."