Report: Mt. Prospect needs office space

An independent business consultant has finalized the report for Mount Prospect's retail areas, suggesting more development of office space and strip mall outlets.

The report stated that the village has a strong retail presence, which competes well with other surrounding towns, but there's room for improvement.

The report will help the village attract developers and retailers, which will be critical in the next three years, especially with the redevelopment of the Randhurst Shopping Center and the village's downtown, said Jim Uszler, executive director of the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce.

"This analysis is a step in the right direction for attracting businesses to come here," Uszler said.

The study of the village's 28 shopping centers and strip malls was conducted by Evanston-based Business Districts Inc. The firm presented a preliminary analysis in April and the finished report is now available on the village's Web site, www.mountprospect.org. The report is meant to help retail centers stay competitive, said Bridget Lane, director of the firm.

One issue is the lack 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. Also, while sales tax revenue increased by more than 11 percent from 2000 to 2006, that was less than inflation that increased prices by about 21 percent in that same period, the report said.

For downtown, it's suggested the village promote more offices to increase the retail daytime crowd. The report detailed how to improve individual strip malls as well.

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.

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