How can Gurnee revitalize East Grand Avenue?
An elite team of experts is gathering feedback from Gurnee residents and businesses in an effort to revitalize East Grand Avenue.
Private-sector professionals in planning, development, finance and other disciplines volunteering for Urban Land Institute took a bus tour of Gurnee and gathered the feedback Tuesday. They plan to collect more ideas Wednesday on what to do with Grand Avenue east of Route 41 to the Waukegan border.
Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit organization that assists in creating and sustaining vibrant communities across the world. The institute is known for exploring land-use issues and hosting forums to find solutions to problems.
East Grand Avenue has been a longtime sore spot in Gurnee, with its mix of empty storefronts, nonstandard sign heights and overhead power lines — a contrast to the busy thoroughfare's more thriving section west of the Tri-State Tollway,
Restaurants, a grocery store and places to gather were among the suggestions for the East Grand Avenue corridor received Tuesday by the Urban Land Institute's 10 experts. The panelists studying Gurnee plan to return with recommendations on how to boost the area.
Rich Wallach, senior director of community development for Chicago-based IFF, said the goal will be to present realistic solutions for the village's east side. IFF is a lender, real estate consultant and developer.
Wallach and the other experts viewed the differences between the east side and the bustling Gurnee Mills area west of the tollway.
“I think there's clearly a tale of two cities,” Wallach said after capping the day with a roundtable discussion at Spaulding School in Gurnee. “You know the east side doesn't get the kind of attention or certainly sales revenue that the west area does. Obviously, when you go out to Gurnee Mills, it's one shopping center after another out there.”
Nancy Firfer, a senior adviser for the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago, also is on the team charged with coming up with ideas to boost East Grand Avenue.
Firfer said traffic was a significant issue for the east-side residents. Some residents spoke of how they are willing to travel to Woodman's in Kenosha instead of dealing with congestion to visit grocery stores on Gurnee's west side.
Retail may not be the solution to what ails East Grand Avenue. Wallach said various types of services could be explored as a fit for the area.
“We're trying to find the niche,” said Firfer, a former Glenview mayor.
Ideas on how to revitalize East Grand date to at least 1999, when a village planning consultant recommended burying power lines there. In 2000, the village board approved a three-point improvement plan that never came to fruition.
Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said improving East Grand is important to the village.
“I've been mayor for 12 years,” Kovarik said, “and we've tried a couple different things, get a little bit done, but nothing really grabs and runs. So, we want to make sure that is a vibrant commercial corridor that really reflects some beautiful neighborhoods on this (east) side of town.”
Gurnee committed $15,000 for the Urban Land Institute's work. The organization's technical assistance panel for the Chicago area accepts a limited number of cases.