One win, one loss for Huntley
Two recent news items starkly illustrated the impact of the recession on Huntley: the foreclosure proceedings surrounding the Portofino project and the imminent opening of Wal-Mart.
The Village of Portofino earned praise from Huntley trustees for its elaborate design inspired by the Italian fishing village it is named after and for it grandiose plans for more than one million square feet of retail and high-end apartments.
The project, developed by the Chicago-based Portofino Group, is emblematic of the excesses that corroded the financial system.
And the developers should have known better. They proposed an enormous lifestyle center anchored by ritzy townhouses and restaurants - at a time when the local housing market had already slowed to a crawl and consumers were already reining in spending.
As Portofino President Gary Marks rightly pointed out this week, the same scenario is playing out all over America as developers find themselves unable to access credit and as cash-strapped banks call their loans.
Strangely, the Huntley village board criticized the Portofino project for one of its relative bright spots: the developer's plans to build retail, including big-box stores, before constructing the high-end housing.
Huntley trustees praised the design and layout of the apartments and townhouses that were supposed to serve as the centerpiece of the project - at a time when the need for affordable housing in Huntley was even more acute.
The developers' plans to wait on the residential showed they grasped the realities of the real estate market and understood that local residents needed cheaper alternatives to the reckless luxury worship of some parts of Randall Road.
Wal-Mart also understands these realities. The retail giant plans to open a supercenter in Huntley in April. Love it or hate it, Wal-Mart will bring affordable goods and an estimated 320 to 350 jobs to Huntley.
The tremendous response generated by Wal-Mart's temporary hiring center showed how desperately those jobs are needed right now. More than 1,500 people have applied for jobs at the store, and that number is expected to double, according to Wal-Mart.
Among the people applying for a job last week was 82-year-old Huntley resident Mary Lou Kroll, who said she feared losing her Sun City home and had not yet found a buyer for her house in Hinsdale.
No 82-year-old woman should have to work in this country. But Kroll's story is a perfect illustration of the reckless home buying and lending that inflated the housing bubble and now threatens the entire financial system.
Wal-Mart may not enable Kroll to keep her home, but the retailer will help keep local families afloat through jobs and cheap consumer goods.
Wal-Mart's impact will be felt in other ways, too. If the supercenter succeeds, it should flood village coffers with hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax revenue, filling a hole left by the village's stagnating retail sector and making up for the potential loss of the Portofino development.
Like other major developments, Wal-Mart will have to "pay its way," that is, it will have to make up for the increased burden on local roads and village services by upgrading surrounding infrastructure.
The retail giant provides hope that through smart development and by adjusting to new realities, Huntley planners and trustees may be able to guide the village safely through the treacherous passages ahead.