Buildings razed for Pilot truck stop, warehouse in Carol Stream just a start
Though it looks like a heavy construction zone, it could take weeks before developers begin building what some neighbors worry will be a noisy truck strop on Gary and North avenues in Carol Stream.
Construction crews on Tuesday wore hard hats and bulldozers continued to haul away big piles of debris and rubble - what's left of a decades-old bowling alley - to make way for the Pilot Travel Center.
The demolition of the Brunswick Zone is one in a series of commercial and industrial buildings - dating back to the 1950s and 1960s - that have been leveled along the busy arteries.
Also on North Avenue, just east of Gary, a pair of buildings are being razed. In their place, a single, 350,000-square-foot production and warehousing facility will be built, consolidating operations for CoreCentric Solutions Inc., a maker of replacement parts for appliance brands.
"It's kind of a redevelopment of Carol Stream going on here," Assistant Village Engineer Bill Cleveland said.
While the demos are in full swing, developers of both the Pilot and the CoreCentric sites still have to secure village building permits.
In July, the village board approved Pilot plans over the complaints of retirees in the upscale Windsor Park community. The $9 million project will build a sprawling gas station for semitrailer trucks and passenger cars, as well as a 9,000-square-foot building that will house a convenience store and three "fast casual" restaurants - all open round-the-clock.
After the village gives the go-ahead, developers hope to break ground in "days or weeks," a Pilot representative said Tuesday. Construction could take three months.
"We do know that they want to move quickly," said Don Bastian, the village's community development director.
While one village consultant has recommended issuing the building permit, an environmental consultant is reviewing the second draft of plans for managing stormwater on the 12-acre site.
This week, the village expects to finish that review, checking the designs against DuPage County stormwater standards. Then the developers will make revisions and resubmit those plans for a third time, Cleveland said.
None of the wetlands will be disturbed there, Cleveland said, but the village needs to ensure that stormwater will be filtered from pollutants before flowing off-site.
Since the Brunswick Zone closed and the property fell into foreclosure, the empty bowling alley attracted vandals, illegal dumpers and little interest from developers until Bluestone Single Tenant Properties stepped forward with the Pilot plans, officials said.