Apartments planned for McChesney site in Glen Ellyn
A real estate firm behind a $31 million mixed-use development in Lombard is proposing a new apartment building that would reshape a former grocery store property in neighboring Glen Ellyn.
South Bend, Indiana-based Holladay Properties has a contract to buy the McChesney & Miller site in the village's downtown, more than six months after another development team put the property up for sale with a listing price of $3 million.
The village has received a preliminary plan that would replace the McChesney lot with a mix of apartments and commercial space at Crescent Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue, an area seen as one of three "catalyst sites" in the central business district.
"We're just starting to meet with them, but we're hopeful that it's meeting the vision of the community and the village board," Village Manager Mark Franz said.
Holladay wants to meet with plan commissioners during the next month to solicit feedback, Franz said.
"They've got some good projects in Downers Grove and other towns in this area," Franz said.
Holladay completed construction two years ago on Burlington Station, a four-story, 89-unit apartment building near the Downers Grove Metra station. Its portfolio also includes hotels in Carol Stream and on the campus of St. Mary's College across from the University of Notre Dame.
In Lombard, Holladay gained village approval in December for a development at the long-dormant site of the old DuPage Theatre. One building would contain 118 apartments and 3,000 to 4,000 square feet of commercial space, possibly for a restaurant, on the ground floor.
The developer envisions a grocery store run by Prairie Food Co-op for a second, 10,000-square-foot building at the southeast corner of East Parkside Avenue and South Main Street. The village has used the site as a Metra commuter parking lot after the iconic movie palace was torn down in 2007.
Construction is expected to begin in fall 2020, Jennifer Ganser, the village's assistant community development director, said via email.
Drew Mitchell, Holladay's vice president of development, did not return a call seeking comment Friday.
Four years ago, Springbank Real Estate bought the McChesney parcel and approached the village with an ambitious plan that never got off the ground.
The development team at the time proposed two buildings with apartments, retailers on the ground floor and a clock tower that would rise above the complex. Then last fall, developers moved to sell the 35,091-square-foot lot.
The village is putting together a project website on Holladay's plans.