Arlington Hts. wishing, waiting for lucky STAR

When -- and if -- STAR Line trains roll through the suburbs, Arlington Heights officials want their village to be one of the first stops along I-90.

"This is the future, and we have to be ready," said Village President Arlene Mulder at a committee meeting on Monday. "Everyone's target is 2016, which is the Olympics. They'll need this just to move everyone around."

After years of planning the STAR Line is still in the planning stages and nearly a decade from construction. The project would connect O'Hare International Airport with suburbs to the west and south.

Arlington Heights has plans for a station along Algonquin Road that could include a station plaza, parking, new housing and retail shops. The Arlington Heights station would be the first major stop west from O'Hare, said Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village director of planning and community development.

"The entire station project wouldn't happen for 20, maybe 30 years from now," Witherington-Perkins said. "It would start with a simple train station and surface parking lot."

Eventually, the Arlington Heights site could include retail and residential buildings -- some up to 10 stories tall. The project could bring more than 4,000 jobs and almost 2,000 homes to the 4.5-acre site, Witherington-Perkins said.

The village hasn't yet bought the land to build an Arlington Heights station, but that will probably change as the project moves along.

"It's critical we get the land for a station or Metra will build one somewhere else," Witherington-Perkins said.

Earlier this month, Schaumburg officials moved into the final stages of a redevelopment plan for the area around their future rail station. The Schaumburg station is expected to be in the center of the Northwest Tollway, between the new convention center to the north and IKEA to the south. The Schaumburg plan also includes a mix of condos, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues.