Arlington Hts. approves changes to Arlington Downs development

Arlington Downs, the mixed-use development planned for the grounds of the vacant 12-story Sheraton Chicago Northwest, expects to have its first building permits this summer, Carl Groesbeck, a partner in the company leading the project, said Monday.

Groesbeck said he expects the Arlington Heights Village Board to give final approval for the planned unit development at the corner of Rohlwing Road and Euclid Avenue by the end of this month.

The board approved increasing the number of units in the old hotel tower from 200 to 214, but the number of rental apartments in the whole project will remain at 657.

The increase reflects the developer's desire to build more one-bedroom and studio apartments in the tower and fewer two-bedrooms in this first phase.

There will definitely be a market for these smaller units, Groesbeck said. He said a major project the developer has heard about will mean “a significant increase in the number of employees in the immediate area. They will be from all over the world.”

He refused to elaborate on this statement, and Charles Witherington-Perkins, director of Planning and Community Development for the village, said no company had approached him about this.

The developer has demolished the former Allstate training center, which had been remodeled in the mid-1980s from the Cinderella Rockefella discothèque. Landscaping a berm is starting, Groesbeck said.

The village board also approved reducing the number of required parking spaces on the property from 2,504 to 2,140, based on an elaborate report about parking needs and uses on the site.

If needed, a parking garage holding about 70 cars can be built east of the CoCo Key Water resort, the board agreed.

Besides turning the former hotel tower into rental apartments and reviving the water park, the developers plan to eventually build two small hotels, a retail area and two more apartment buildings.