New Metra station 'keystone' to Wood Dale development

Wood Dale unveiled its newly reconstructed $1.27 million Metra station Tuesday with the hope it will spur retail and housing development in the city.

Roughly 50 elected officials, city employees, family members and residents trekked through Tuesday's snowstorm to check out the metro-prairie-style station on the Milwaukee District West Line.

Inspired by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, the brick and wood building contains a coffee and snack shop, bathrooms, art portraying historical images of the Wood Dale area, modern lighting fixtures and ornate piping and gutters.

A few signs alert commuters some finishing touches are missing, including power to an outdoor heater and benches inside the station.

But, ultimately, officials said the station turned out exactly as they wished.

"We are hoping this will be the keystone to downtown redevelopment, a kind of kickoff to the surge of development we hope to see in the next 10 years," Mayor Ken Johnson said.

Downtown covers the half-mile radius around the depot. Johnson said city officials hope the station attracts builders to construct mid-rise residential buildings with commercial retail on the first floor, along with cafe-style restaurants.

Although the station took about seven months to reconstruct, the project originally was suggested 12 years ago by a former alderman.

It almost was delayed again last March when Johnson threatened to veto construction in hopes of delaying the project and waiting for possible federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Some city council members voiced skepticism about whether the project was eligible for the aid and approved the work last March with no veto from Johnson.

"The hardest part was getting past the politics," said second ward Alderman John Kadela, who Johnson says was instrumental in the aesthetics of the redesign.

To help pay for the project, the council secured about $350,000 in 2006 from homebuilders working in the Wood Dale area. Taxpayers shouldered the remaining $900,000.

The city leases the station from Metra for $10 a year.