Mt. Prospect plans to share retail analysis report in April

Mount Prospect is taking an inventory of its businesses as the village undergoes one of its more aggressive retail changes in years, village officials said.

With Randhurst Shopping Center about to be turned into a lifestyle center, and the redevelopment of the triangle area in the heart of downtown, the village is looking at what it has in terms of shops.

It has recently completed Phase I of a Retail Market Analysis, which outlined the 28 shopping centers and strip malls the village has in its northern, downtown and southern business hot spots.

Evanston-based Business Districts Inc., an economic-development consulting firm, which conducted the inventory, is now working on a set of recommendations for each of the centers.

Tentatively, the report on the recommendation phase of the project has been set for 7 p.m. April 22 at the committee of the whole meeting at village hall, 50 S. Emerson St., village officials said.

At the meeting, the firm might recommend that one center needs a new store front or that for another one, development of an out lot could boost business, said Bridget Lane, director of Business Districts.

The board will not vote on it, but will consider the findings for reference as it evaluates development proposals.

The village has a robust venue of shopping and business centers that many other suburbs can only hope for, Lane said.

More than 95,000 people work within a three-mile radius of the downtown, employed in more than 5,300 businesses, village officials said.

The village share of sales tax revenue was about $3.9 million in 2006. Food and beverage tax was about $755,000.

"Mount Prospect is blessed with a lot of great retail and sales tax revenue, but you can always do better," Lane said.

Village officials plan on using the study, in part, as a way to prepare themselves when a major retailer wants to move into town, said Maura El Metannani, Mount Prospect's public information officer.

The study allows the village officials to know what it has in terms of retail and what businesses would be best suited for a particular spot.

"We wanted to get a handle what have and what is a realistic strategic plan," El Metannani said.