Apartment, retail complex up in the air in Glen Ellyn

The redevelopment of the long-vacant Giesche Shoes store in downtown Glen Ellyn faces an uncertain future.

Village planners have not heard from the owner of the property on the northwest corner of Main Street and Hillside Avenue. And developers still have not formally applied for zoning approvals three years after they proposed an apartment and retail complex that would dwarf neighboring stores and restaurants.

"The status of the project is unclear," said Staci Hulseberg, Glen Ellyn's planning and development director.

The project by the Opus Group, a Minneapolis-based real estate firm with offices in Rosemont, would demolish the Giesche shop and construct an apartment building with space for retailers on the ground floor.

Sean Spellman, a vice president of the Opus, did not return phone calls this week seeking comment about where the project stands.

The firm has sought only informal feedback from trustees and the village's plan commission since March 2014. That input shaped several key revisions.

As proposed in May 2015, the tallest point of the new building - a tower structure - stood 61 feet. The development would contain roughly 9,000 square feet of retail space, Tudor-style facades and high-end amenities for apartment residents such as a 24-hour gym.

Over the summer, Opus then envisioned a building no taller than 55 feet but still higher than the maximum height of 45 feet allowed in village code for the area, a southern gateway into downtown.

The firm also scrapped a three-level parking deck near Hillside and Glenwood avenues on lots owned by the village and St. Petronille Parish. A long-term, no-cost lease would have allowed the village to build and operate the structure on church property.

But parents and parishioners worried the public parking deck would worsen existing congestion around St. Petronille's elementary school.

Plans later called for some underground parking below the new building and at street level.

The 15,200-square-foot Giesche shop, meanwhile, has sat empty since November 2014. In its heyday, the family-owned chain had stores in Geneva, Downers Grove and Naperville, among other suburbs. Brian Giesche also could not be reached.

Glen Ellyn officials have fielded inquiries from "other parties" interested in the prominent site, Hulseberg said.

"We're looking forward to the potential either reuse or redevelopment of the property," she said. "We'd love to get somebody in that space."