Barrington board unanimously approves condo building plan

Plans for a three story, 12-unit condo building at 407 E. Main St. near the Barrington Metra station were approved by Monday night the village board.

The building will feature condos that will range in size from 1,219 to 1,635 square feet. The building will contain be around 27,012 square feet total and be outfitted with an underground parking lot.

“I'm excited to bring a luxury condo product to my town,” Greg Crowther, Builder/Manager at G Squared Properties, said after the village board unanimously approved the plan.

This is the second time that the Barrington-based developer has been given the go-ahead to build on the site.

In 2007, the village approved a plan that called for called for retail and office space on the first floor with residential space on the second and third floors, but the proposal never came to fruition during the economic downturn. The new plan is solely residential.

During a presentation to the village board, Jennifer Tennant, the assistant director of development services for the village, said the village has changed how it regulates building height since the first plan was approved. In 2010 the ordinance was changed from a maximum of 38 feet to be a sliding scale to allow for pitched roof buildings, Tennant said.

“These buildings are a little more architecturally pleasing, so they are allowed a taller height than a flat roof building,” Tennant said.

At its tallest, the condo building's roof will measure 48 feet and 7 inches — taller than St. Paul United Church of Christ building next door at 401 E. Main St. but far shorter than the church's 60-foot steeple.

To make way for the condos, the plan calls for the demolition of the single-family home at 407 E. Main St., which is currently occupied by a business called Chakra Balancing & Energy Healing.

Crowther said the company will begin the sales process in the spring and look to do the construction work in the summer.