The birth of a downtown
Southwest suburban Burr Ridge is finally getting a downtown, thanks to Opus North Corporation, a Rosemont-based developer of residential, commercial and industrial projects. At the helm of the massive mixed use, master-planned community is Matt Nix, senior real estate director for Opus North.
"We are taking 20 acres of undeveloped land within a corporate park that was developed 25 years ago and are creating the downtown area that Burr Ridge has never had," explained Nix.
On those 20 acres Opus North is building 200,000 square feet of commercial space, 196 residential units, 37,000 square feet of office condos, parking for 1,000 cars and a park where people can gather, Nix said. The project has been appropriately named Burr Ridge Village Center.
"The village had the vision to consider options other than office for this land because they knew that the Cook County side of the village, where this is located, was at a tax disadvantage to the DuPage County side of the village. So it was not being developed," Nix explained.
Three and a half years after it was first proposed, Burr Ridge Village Center is home to retailers like J. Jill, Chico's, Coldwater Creek, Eddie Bauer, Yankee Candle, Starbucks, Banana Republic and the Kohler showroom and water spa. In addition, the first residents moved into their units in February.
Probably best known for their commercial and industrial work, Opus North diversified into residential development approximately four years ago and brought Nix in to oversee the new venture. The graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University's MBA program had spent many years working on multi-family residential rental properties for Lincoln Property Company so he knew the business well.
Today, in addition to Burr Ridge Village Center, Nix and his team are developing Port Clinton Place in Vernon Hills, a mixture of condominiums and row houses located close to existing retail, and they just received preliminary zoning approval for a development of luxury apartments and offices in Lisle.
"Very little rental property has been built in the suburbs during the past five years so we feel that this is a very good time to get back into that market," Nix explained.
His dream home: A modern, multi-level home with lots of outdoor living space overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica.
His favorite new amenity: "Anything that we can put into a building which makes it more cost-effective and reduces the carbon footprint of the building," Nix said.
His philosophy: "We seek great infill opportunities and larger projects where we can fully deploy our talents and resources," Nix explained. "We evaluate each piece of property on all fronts in order to come up with the best possible plan and since we take on more challenging projects, we have fewer competitors."
Nix works with his commercial and industrial counterparts within Opus North to collaborate on mixed use projects.
"For instance, our office guy brought the Lisle property to my attention," Nix said. "He wanted to put some offices in there, but couldn't justify buying the entire piece of property for offices. The fact that we build residential, office and industrial projects makes us very flexible and creates a competitive advantage for us.
Details: Nix estimated that Opus North builds between 150 and 300 units per year. They range in size from 1,200 to 4,000 square feet and range in price from the high $200,000s to $1.6 million.
The market, he said, depends upon the project. In Burr Ridge, most buyers have been empty-nesters. In Vernon Hills there has been a mix of young professionals, families and empty-nesters. In Lisle he expects that the renters will be primarily young professionals and empty-nesters.
Best part about being a builder: "The fun thing about developing this type of product is that when you are done you have a physical asset that you can look to and get good feedback on. I love it when I bump into the mayor or a buyer at Starbucks, for instance, and they tell me what a great job we are doing," Nix admitted.
Biggest changes he has seen: "There has been a definite shift toward mixed use and transit-oriented development, as well as the recycling of real estate toward the best possible use. Buyers and builders are focusing more on quality over quantity so they aren't just developing farmland anymore. And because of changes in people's lifestyles, they are municipalities are considering density in a good way."
Future plans: "Opus has a 55-year history of being flexible so over the next five years we expect to expand more into the rental sector and we also plan to get into independent senior living and student housing on in-fill and transit-oriented sites," Nix predicted.
"I expect our investment in mixed use developments to continue because it makes a lot of sense and it works even better when you mix rental units with commercial or offices because then you are dealing with one owner as opposed to many owners like you have with condominiums," he explained.
Finally, he said, he expects to continue Opus North's quest to be one of the leading builders when it comes to green, environmentally-friendly development.