Long-vacant Arlington Hts. storefronts coming down

Demolition on a long-vacant strip of storefronts in downtown Arlington Heights began Friday.

The building many consider an eyesore should be gone by early next week, but the longer-term fate of the site at Dunton Avenue and Eastman Street is unclear.

In July 2007, the village board approved plans to build an eight-story retail and residential development called Parkview Condominiums on the property. Four condo contracts were signed, but when the economy worsened, construction was put "on hold," said Claudia Starck, the project's manager and Baird & Warner real estate agent.

She said she's been told developers still intend to build the condos at some point.

Neither property owner Lloyd Baldwin nor developer Bernard Katz and Assocs. could be reached for comment.

In the meantime, Arlington Heights development director Charles Witherington-Perkins said the site would be cleaned up and filled in with grass.

Even before that occurs, though, environmental cleanup work is needed, the result of solvents used by a former dry-cleaning business. That work will start in August, said Chris Tanner, the owner of Tanner Environmental, an engineering company directing the cleanup. Ten truckloads of contaminated soil are expected to be hauled away.

A redevelopment agreement between the village and Baldwin included plans to fund some of the environmental cleanup from the village's northern downtown tax increment financing district. The village board would have to approve the use of any TIF funds, but only after Baldwin resubmits the agreement, which the village has already reviewed and revised, Witherington-Perkins said.

Once clean, the site is expected to be certified by the Illinois EPA under its voluntary site remediation program, Tanner said.

The site had long contained empty storefronts next to an otherwise developing area of condos, restaurants and shops. Nearby residents and business owners had grown frustrated about the vacant structure.

"Everybody in the building is quite excited to see this come down," said Frank Boone, former condo association president for the nearby Towne Place condos. "Everybody thought it was an eyesore."

Just this week, Hornak Home Improvement Products, an exterior remodeling company that spent 18 years at 14 W. Miner St., moved into the former storefront of Steve's Sheet Metal, adjacent to the demolition site.

"I'm looking forward to it being done," said owner Steve Hornak. "To me, it's about time."