Idyllic Arlington Hts. open space's days are numbered

For years, it's been an oasis near downtown Arlington Heights - a property nearly 4 acres in size containing only one home, a pretty ranch, with a broad expanse of lawn and exceptional gardens.

Since 1947 the Henry family house and grounds has been a unique feature of the neighborhood just west of downtown. Neighbors, and even the family, hold out hope the property will remain intact even though it is now up for sale and will pass out of the family for the first time.

But at a $6 million asking price, the neighborhood's 62-year idyll is likely over. The village, and the Realtor, say it will likely be developed into 15 or more single-family houses.

A man whose grandparents built the home on West Campbell Street at Kennicott Avenue says the family still hopes a new owner will keep the home and grounds intact.

"We hope someone will come along who will live in the house and preserve the grounds and enjoy the place as much as we have," said Robert Henry, who now lives in Woodstock. "It would be very hard to see it torn down. It's been in the family so long. But development generally is inevitable."

The home was built about 1947 by Guy and Bessie Henry, whose family manufactured equipment for commercial refrigeration.

Robert Henry's mother, Lorraine Henry, loves gardening and has received many compliments for her flowers, but she has reached the stage of life when it's time to sell, said Henry. His father, also called Robert Henry, died in the early 1980s.

The home and land are listed through Tom Stengren of Prudential Starck Realtors in Arlington Heights.

"The attraction is the property," acknowledged Stengren, who also is a trustee on the Arlington Heights Village Board. "The interest has come from developers. A few are doing due diligence on the property as we speak."

Neighbors through the years have enjoyed the large open space. They are wondering what might be built there and hope it's not a big high rise, said John Cunningham, who lives nearby.

"It's kind of like living next to a park," said Cunningham. "They always keep it up nicely. "We like it the way it is."

"It's probably one of the most well-known pieces of property in Arlington Heights," said Stengren. "It's a great location eight blocks from downtown. "People have always wondered when it would be developed."

The land is zoned R-2 for single-family homes with lots 75 feet wide and at least 10,000 square feet, said Jonathan Mendel, development planner for the village. He estimates 15 to 17 homes could be built there.

The village's comprehensive plan and the type of housing in the surrounding neighborhood would make it very difficult to get approval for townhouses or anything other than single-family homes, said Mendel.

However, he said village ordinances make it almost impossible to deny a development that fits regulations.

The land was subdivided into lots 60-by-132 feet in the 1920s but current regulations would require changing that before a development would be approved, he said.

"It was on the edge of town when it was built," noted Mendel.

Potential buyers of the house or individual lots have also come forward, but the property is being sold as one piece, said Stengren.

The 3,000-square-foot ranch home has an indoor swimming pool, said Henry, but the rumors of a bowling alley in the basement aren't quite true.

Rather, his grandfather installed something called an automated shuffleboard machine that is really like a large pinball machine where players push metal hockey pucks down the lane or alley at pins. And it's still there.

There is also a small two-story house on the property.

"The property has always attracted a lot of attention," said Henry, "especially after Arlington Heights began developing - more so in the 1960s."

Large developers are interested in the site as an opportunity to keep people working in this economy, said Stengren. And a smaller local developer made an offer that was never negotiated to a contract.

Stengren thinks a purchaser would want to extend Kennicott. He does not expect much opposition from neighbors because he does not believe many could have thought it would remain open space forever.