Mystery behind downtown Arlington Heights development to be revealed Sunday
Plans for redevelopment of a long-vacant piece of property in downtown Arlington Heights where people will be able to "live, shop and dine" will be unveiled during a special community meeting Sunday.
The development, to be called Arlington 425, is proposed for the northern three-quarters of the vacant block west of the Vail Avenue parking garage. The site was the home of Paddock Publications, publisher of the Daily Herald, until 1995.
A community open house hosted by the development team is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, with presentations at 12:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m., in a large tent on site at the southwest corner of Campbell Street and Highland Avenue.
Officials involved in the project declined to provide details of their proposal until the community meeting. Invitations to the open house were sent to area business owners and residents, and via an email blast from the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce. The invitation also is posted to arlington425.com.
"We will present our ideas on making Arlington 425 the standard of excellence in downtown Arlington Heights and we hope to hear your thoughts while the project is in its formative stage," according to the announcement.
The project team met with village officials over the summer to discuss preliminary plans. The idea now is to have the developer incorporate feedback from neighbors with that of village officials before a formal submittal is made, according to Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development.
"We've seen the preliminary plans and given them preliminary input," he said. "We collectively felt it would be a good idea to engage the neighbors."
There have been a number of conceptual ideas over the years of what to build on the site, now owned by Norwood Builders, but nothing has panned out, he said.
Sunday's meeting comes as a separate developer's proposals for the southern quarter of the block, on Sigwalt Street between Highland and Chestnut avenues, were twice rejected by the village board in recent votes. CA Ventures' plans for a 5-story, 80-unit apartment building were rejected on a 4-4 vote in March, and an earlier 5-story, 88-unit proposal was voted down 8-1 last October.
But in June, trustees conceptually signaled their willingness to support a residential building up to four stories.
In addition to the parking garage and downtown businesses on the east, the vacant block is bounded by condos to the north and single-family homes to the west and south.