Land swap enables Barrington redevelopment
Barrington officials are on the verge of assembling the last piece of property they need for a planned redevelopment of 2.7 acres at the heart of the village’s downtown.
On April 23, trustees plan to vote on swapping 6,960 square feet the village owns at the corner of Cook and Lake streets for 7,395 square feet owned by Barrington Bank & Trust across Station Street from village hall.
The nonmonetary transaction would make the site of the bank’s private parking area public for the village and give the bank a new parking area at the currently vacant corner across from Egg Harbor Cafe and adjacent to Harris Bank’s parking lot on Cook Street.
The village’s new parking area would serve patrons of the three commercial buildings being planned for the southwest corner of Hough Street (Route 59) and Main Street (Lake-Cook Road).
The village board held a legally required public hearing on the property exchange Tuesday night, in anticipation of the upcoming vote.
Trustees recently approved a concept plan for the long-desired redevelopment drawn up by the partnership of Arthur Hill and Co. and Envision Realty Advisors of Evanston.
Among other projects, this partnership was responsible for the commercial block that includes the movie theater in downtown Evanston.
Late last year, Barrington demolished two vacant buildings that remained on the redevelopment site — a former Chase Bank and Chuck Hines.
Under the new concept plan, two larger buildings of two to three stories would face Hough and Main streets with a plaza between them at the corner. The two buildings would be connected on their upper stories.
The existing building housing M.J. Miller and Co. jewelers would remain just west on Main Street. But to the west of it would be a third new building, smaller than the others.
Though office uses would be allowed on the buildings’ upper stories, the plan requires at least 85 percent of the ground floors to be retail.
Officials said the speed with which the project is built is dependent on many factors, including the prior commitment of tenants.