Downtown Mount Prospect apartment complex wins OK despite complaints

An upscale apartment building in downtown Mount Prospect's long underdeveloped small triangle area moved closer to breaking ground Thursday.

The village planning and zoning commission recommended final approval of the site plan and a conditional use for the 20 West Apartments at Northwest Highway, Busse Avenue and Wille Avenue. The 73-unit building will include a two-story Mia's Cantina restaurant.

Nick Papanicholas Jr., of the developer Nicholas & Associates, said it will "bring in a youthful movement to the downtown" that will benefit local businesses. "This is the start of something special."

One change from the preliminary plan approved by the village board in September involved making West Busse Avenue a two-lane road. This, developers hope, will relieve concerns from neighbors in nearby high-rises about congestion that besets an alleyway north of Brick City Tavern, a restaurant in the triangle. Busse would have an exit through vacant property to the north to access the alley.

Nonetheless, neighbors reiterated congestion concerns, as well as raising others, including that lights of cars exiting the underground garage might shine into their units as they access the street.

Wille Street resident Sandra Marcoux said sometimes as many as four food trucks line up there to make deliveries and there is also traffic from fire vehicles. "We have a lot of elderly people in our residence, and so 911 is on call constantly for us," she said.

Marcoux also criticized the developer's traffic study because it didn't include summer weekends when there is a car show on Saturdays and a farmers market on Sundays.

Community Development Director William Cooney said ways would be looked at to accommodate nighttime visitors, such as using the Metra parking lot across the street.

"But you're right. It's a downtown district. We want traffic in the downtown. We want people to be able to come here, spend an evening, go out and enjoy themselves," he said. "The onus is on the village to come up with a quick means for the public to use the available parking that's around the site, because we want those businesses to succeed."

And Commission Co-Chairman William Beattie said: "No matter what we do there, traffic is going to go up. But is that not just part and parcel to having a busy downtown? The alternative is not have something go in there."