Plan to redevelop Henry property in Arlington Heights gains initial approval

The former Henry estate near downtown Arlington Heights is one step closer to being redeveloped into 15 new single-family homes.

The Arlington Heights village board approved a preliminary plan by Lexington Homes, a Chicago-area homebuilder, to turn the nearly 5-acre property — which was once where the Robert J. and Lorraine Henry family lived on in an estate with an indoor swimming pool and servants' quarters — into a development with 15 single-family homes.

“I think bringing this property to the modern era is fantastic,” Trustee Jim Tinaglia said.

The property is bordered by West Campbell Street, South Kaspar Avenue, West Sigwalt Street and South Patton Avenue. Each lot would be about one-quarter of an acre, and the houses would average 3,300 square feet with four bedrooms and 3½ bathrooms and likely priced between the high $600,000s to mid-$700,000s.

To fit all the houses on the lot, the developers are proposing to build a road running north to south that would connect N. Kennicott Ave. to S. Kennicott Ave.

There also would be a lot for water detention on the site where water from all 15 lots would drain.

Trustee John Scaletta said he wanted to make sure the new construction didn't negatively impact the flooding on neighboring properties.

“This is a big impact to the neighborhood,” Scaletta said. “We're the city of good neighbors and I want to make sure the people moving in are as happy as the people who have been living here for 10 to 15 years.”

Angelo Zografos, the project's civil engineer, said the new improvements would actually improve drainage for some neighbors because it would capture their rainfall as well.

“We worked together with (village) staff on a great design to ensure the longevity of the storm sewers,” Zografos said.

The Henry family owned the Henry Valve Co. that was founded in 1914 to make gas lanterns and accessory gauges for Model “T” Fords. The company continued to grow and develop new patents in the transportation and manufacturing industries over the past 100 years. Now called Henry Technologies, the company is in the hands of the third generation of the Henry family and has a global presence in Australia, China and South East Asia.

The Henry home was torn down in 2014.

With the board's preliminary approval obtained, Lexington Homes must now complete their final plans and resubmit them to the village where they will need to be approved once again before they can start working the site.