Mt. Prospect hears suggestions on improving shopping centers

The Mount Prospect village board on Tuesday listened to a retail consultant that made recommendations on how to improve the village's shopping centers, ranging from offering more office space in downtown to developing out lots in some centers.

Evanston-based Business Districts Inc., an economic-development consulting firm, reported on the village's 28 shopping centers and strip mall.

Representatives from Business Districts discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each center, offering recommendations for each site.

For instance, for downtown, the firm suggested the village promote more offices to increase the retail daytime crowd.

"One of the things that is a concern to us is that offices do not bring in sales taxes, but this puts on a whole different spin, particularly for downtown," Trustee Arlene Juracek said.

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

In the village's favor is high daily traffic past many centers along Rand, Central, Algonquin, Elmhurst and Golf roads and Euclid Avenue. It also had a high density of people living near its shopping centers, which is attractive to prospective businesses, she said.

One drawback for the village is that it lacks a lot of vacant land where retailers could build a new center. Redeveloping an existing center can be more costly for businesses than building a new one, Lane said.

The study will help the village decide how to manage its retail resources, Lane said.

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

More than 95,000 people work within a three-mile radius of 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.

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, she said.