Mount Prospect plan commission backs Prospect Place apartments

A new downtown development is ready for the scrutiny of Mount Prospect village board members. The planning and zoning commission Thursday recommended the redevelopment of the Prospect Place shopping center.

The shopping center at the southwest corner of West Prospect Avenue and South Main Street will meet the wrecking ball, and the village said it is working to relocate remaining businesses.

In its place could rise a five-story, mixed-use building, with four floors of apartments and ground-floor retail along Prospect Avenue, including restaurants with outdoor dining space at the ends.

Neighbors had raised concerns about traffic and parking. The developer modified the plan to add residential parking on the site, reducing the need to lease spaces from the village in the Wille Street lot, but the impact on traffic along Evergreen Avenue was left hanging.

Commissioner Augie Filippone said the development, which is being spearheaded by First Equity Group, will benefit the schools through increased property taxes. First Equity Group also was behind a similar building at 10 N. Main St.

"A lot of the shops have kind of left, I think, in anticipation of a lot of this," he said. "And so it's nice to hear that the village is working with them to relocate."

Commissioner William Beattie cast the lone "no" vote. Noting the changes within two weeks of the plan's introduction to the commission on Jan. 14, he said, "It might be possible to make something in two more weeks that would fit even more."