High-end apartment complex planned on Randall Road in Elgin
A large, high-end apartment complex targeting single professionals and empty nesters along the northern edge of Randall Road in Elgin is expected to be ready for move-ins by early next year.
Watermark at the Grove will consist of five, three-story buildings on about 11 acres on the northwest corner of Northwest Parkway and Randall Road, across the street from Village Pizza and Pub. A little less than two acres right off the intersection will be reserved for future retail and commercial space.
The Elgin City Council's committee of the whole approved the plan by developer Interstate Partners LLC in an 8-1 vote earlier this week. Councilman Rich Dunne cast the lone dissenting vote. A final vote by the council is expected later this month.
The complex will feature 258 apartments, including efficiencies and one-and two-bedroom units, plus a swimming pool, clubhouse, underground parking, bicycle parking and four acres of open space with a dog park and walking trail, Community Development Directory Marc Mylott said. There would also be a bus stop there.
Weather permitting, construction will start by late April or early May, with the first units open by early next year, said Mark Ebacher, who heads the Illinois office of Interstate Partners. The full complex will be finished by late 2018, he said.
"It's about a 30-month construction period to deliver the final building," Ebacher said. "It takes about 10 months for one building."
The full cost of the project and rental rates are still being finalized, he said. The builder will be Kinzie Builders LLC of Chicago, he said.
The project follows a "best model" of integrated living where people can live, shop and work in the same area, City Manager Sean Stegall said. "We really see this as a real enhancement," he said. "It's been a long time coming. The market has changed."
Councilman Terry Gavin agreed. "I love this idea," he said.
Dunne said space along Randall Road should be devoted to retail and commercial businesses to add to Elgin's tax base. "As you drive down Randall Road, many people tell me that, as you as you cross into the city of Elgin, you can tell you have because retail stops," he said.
The popularity of online sales through websites, like Amazon, has supplanted the need for new brick and mortar retail developments, and the influx of residents will be beneficial to nearby Elgin businesses, said Mark Ebacher, who heads the Illinois office of Interstate Partners.
"I really believe that people need to live where they work. It makes it cost-effective for them," Mayor David Kaptain said. "That's the future."
Security will be "a big thing" for the "quasi urbanesque, suburban-type location" that could attract residents such as employees of Advocate Sherman Hospital, farther south on Randall Road, Ebacher said.
"(A resident) can be a single woman that's working in these medical facilities," he said. "She can drive into her secured parking stall in the basement, she can take the elevator up, grab her mail on the first floor in a secure environment. Do what she wants to, and bring her trash out, put it into the chute - and she's never leaving the building."
Mixing residential along main commercial corridors is common on the East Coast, Councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger said. "This is a refreshing change," she said.