Former furniture store in Vernon Hills to be repurposed for Urban Air Adventure Park
A long-vacant furniture store in Vernon Hills will be repurposed as an indoor amusement park for kids and adults with attractions including go-karts, obstacle courses and more.
Village officials this week gave final approval to allow Wynn-Hoff Air Inc., doing business as Urban Air Adventure Park, to build out the former Ashley Homestore space at 413 N. Milwaukee Ave. in the Marketplace shopping center.
Urban Air is a franchise with 153 locations in the U.S. and Canada and 80 more under development. Suburban sites include Crystal Lake, Naperville, Bloomingdale and St. Charles. This would be the company's first Lake County location.
The 61,612-square-foot space has been vacant for some time. Ashley was the last occupant before moving to a spot nearby closer to Milwaukee Avenue.
According to information presented to the village, Urban Air offers a variety of physical activities ideal for users ages 4 to 15 but suitable for adults. It's promoted as a destination for kids' birthday parties, corporate gatherings, preschool field trips, team-building events, private rentals and other uses.
Attractions will include go-karts, a zip line, climbing walls, virtual reality, obstacle courses, laser tag, a ropes course and trampolines. A cafe will serve pizza, fries and chicken tenders. Bottled beer and wine also will be available.
Village officials favored the concept after an initial presentation last May but had questions about safety protocols and equipment inspections. The village's advisory planning and zoning commission held a public hearing Nov. 30.
The hearing was continued after technical questions about the special use and other aspects of the plan were raised by a Lenny Asaro, an attorney representing Sky Zone, an indoor entertainment facility that opened a few years ago at 701 Milwaukee Ave. in the Rivertree shopping center nearby.
Asaro contended Urban Air failed to meet a standard of a special use by showing it would not harm, substantially diminish or impair adjacent property values.
The plan commission disagreed citing instances of competing big-box and fast-food stores operating near each other. It also was noted that each tenant in the shopping center had to approve for Urban Air to lease the property.
Asaro reiterated the point during the Jan. 17 village board committee of the whole session for a last look before an ordinance was drafted for official approval.
"Urban Air is proposing the identical use," Asaro said at the time. "You may get an Urban Air if you approve it, but you also may lose a Sky Zone if you do."
Village Attorney James Ferolo said the special use standard deals with potential issues such as traffic, noise or hours of operation and not protecting businesses from competition.
"While we certainly want all of our businesses in town to succeed, the purpose of the zoning code isn't to limit competition," he said.
Urban Air will employ 130 to 150 full- and part-time workers with 30 to 50 working each shift. Periodic inspections by an independent third party as well as documented daily inspections before the facility opens (and midday on weekends) are required.
The village board approved the special use permit 6-0 with conditions, including that a security plan be submitted to Vernon Hills police for review and modifications, if requested.