Amid more delays, Arlington Heights apartment project on 'cusp of breaking ground'
Having already faced financing and soil contamination problems that delayed the start of construction, the developer of a five-story, 76-unit apartment building east of downtown Arlington Heights earned another extension of approvals from the village board Monday — just days before the permissions were set to expire.
Developers Ben Pecoraro and Guido Neri requested and received a six-month delay to get shovels in the ground by Feb. 6, 2022, which follows an earlier 12-month extension granted by the board a year ago. The project, on the northwest corner of Hickory Avenue and Kensington Road, was first approved in August 2018.
In a recent letter provided to village officials, an official at Wintrust/Hinsdale Bank & Trust said the bank received loan approval from its credit committees to provide project financing, but they are still completing due diligence ahead of a scheduled closing on Friday. That's the same day the developers' village approvals were set to lapse.
The developers' attorney also wrote in a separate letter to the village that the process has been made difficult by the wide fluctuation of prices for building materials, including lumber, wiring and drywall, and the ability to obtain those materials on a timely basis.
Pecoraro added during the board meeting Monday night that his team is a day or two away from making a final submittal for village building permits, and hopes to pick those back up in the next few weeks.
“We had multiple reasons for the project to be delayed, but we are on the cusp of breaking ground,” Pecoraro told the board, adding that he expects work to begin by mid-September.
Even before delays related to the pandemic, the developers said acquisition of the vacant property was slowed nearly a year over concerns about environmental contamination. But the land will be remediated during construction, they said.
Village officials have been counting on the project to kick-start redevelopment of the light industrial area into a long-envisioned mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood that could complement the nearby downtown. Nearly two weeks ago, the board approved long-envisioned plans for a microbrewery across the street on Hickory.
In 2018, trustees agreed to give Pecoraro and Neri up to $120,000 a year for up to eight years from a tax increment financing fund, which was established in 2014 to help spur redevelopment in the area. Under the TIF, property taxes above the existing level began going into a fund controlled by the village for economic development purposes.
The apartment development — which would have a mix of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, and 3,450 square feet of first-floor commercial space for retailers and offices — could take up to 17 months to build, officials say.