40-unit townhouse development near downtown Lake Zurich approved

A plan to build a 40-unit townhouse development north of Route 22 and west of Old Rand Road was approved by the village of Lake Zurich this week.

The development, which calls for the units to be divided between 10 buildings and will be named Canterbury Estates, received unanimous village board approval, but not before tough questions from elected village officials at their meeting Monday night.

"What makes you think that you can sell these things?" Mayor Tom Poynton asked. "(There's) 40 units with the train tracks basically on two of the three sides and a state road going right in front of the place."

Scott Shelton of Ryan Homes said he and the development team first looked at the quality of the village, local schools and the local retail environment because they are factors in a prospective buyer's decision to move to a particular area.

"Would we love if the train tracks weren't in that particular area? Yes. But we believe that all those other items, as well as income demographics in the area, make it an attractive opportunity for people to be in the village."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we could sell them," Shelton added.

One selling point of the project that Shelton mentioned was how near the townhouses would be to the village's downtown. Revitalizing downtown Lake Zurich has long been a focus of elected leaders. Village officials have often said developers are hesitant to build downtown commercial projects because they don't have enough nearby residents.

Shelton said the development is less than a five-minute walk to downtown. Poynton characterized the walk as around 10 minutes.

Prices for the townhouses will start from high $200,000s and are expected to average in the low- to mid-$300,000s, according to documents filed with the village. Shelton said the units nearer the train tracks will be priced lower.

Shelton said the company felt the market was right for the project. He said they hope to have all units sold within 18 months after the model unit is built.

"The great news about this project is that I don't think any of us are seeing that there's an imminent recession, we hope, in the next two years," he said.