Wheeling OKs early Town Center plans, wants it built quickly
Wheeling trustees on Monday Monday approved preliminary site plans for the $100 million Wheeling Town Center project near the intersection of Dundee Road and Northgate Parkway.
Now the village board wants construction to move quickly on the mixed-use development near the village's Metra station.
The transit-oriented project includes the 38,000-square-foot movie theater and brewpub, Flix Brewhouse, plus 60,000 square feet of retail space and a village plaza with outdoor amenities.
Also included is a five-story, 295-unit residential building with a parking garage at its center. The garage would provide parking for residents and movie theater employees.
The developer, Urban R2, initially planned to break ground on the project in December, but the plan has faced several hurdles, including parking and traffic concerns.
Wheeling Director of Economic Development John Melaniphy said the Town Center is no small undertaking.
"There are so many different interest groups that have to agree upon how this development will affect them," Melaniphy said. "Creating a downtown is a complex undertaking with many groups involved."
The village is now working with the Wheeling Park District to come up with an easement agreement on infrastructure for water, sewer and floodwater management.
The easement would run along park district property, but officials have yet to take action on any proposals they've received regarding the easement.
Wheeling Village President Dean Argiris says plans for the easement should already have been settled.
"What's taking us so long here?" Argiris asked. "We built the Westin Hotel in 15 months. We can't waste any more time on this."
Argiris said he wants a plan for the easement presented to the board in mid-March.
"I think the board sent a strong message to staff, the developer and park district to reach an agreement on this issue in the next 45 days," Melaniphy said.
The project is set to be completed in two phases. The first includes streets, a portion of the parking spaces, the village plaza, the residential building and theater. The second phase includes the additional retail space.
Village staff members initially were concerned about parking, but the revised plan now includes 720 surface parking spaces, 150 of which are reserved for Metra commuters until noon weekdays. The residential building will have 582 parking spaces, 99 of which will be reserved for theater employees.
"The parking issue is a good thing," Argiris said. "And maybe we can work out an agreement to use the village hall lot as an overflow. We have 150 spaces here."
Under the preliminary plans approved Monday, Urban R2 will break ground on the project this summer, and Flix Brewhouse could be ready to open by summer 2017.