The latest plans for the southeast corner of Arlington Heights and Higgins Roads were revealed during the mayor's annual State of the Village address that was held during a chamber of commerce luncheon at Belvedere Banquets.
Residents were allowed to view the sketches on poster boards set up in the banquet hall and some filled out comment cards with their opinions for village officials and Mount Prospect-based Wingspan Development Group.
There was a public open house back in November when Wingspan's proposal was one of the four on display. The village board chose Wingspan's project in January.
The mixed-use redevelopment of the town's oldest shopping center will include:
- Apartments
- Townhouses
- Retail buildings
- 10 acre site the village now owns but plans to sell to the developer
The Daily Herald states that according to the plans, popular existing businesses Jarosch Bakery, Tensuke Market and Vini's Pizza would move to a new 26,000 square foot retail building along Higgins Road. VV Nails, 7-Mile Cycles, Subway and three other retailers would have space in a separate 20,000 square foot building at the corner of Higgins and Arlington Heights Roads.
"Every business there now has a home in the new place. Rose Garden Cafe is moving down the block to the old Sweet Baby Ray's and BMO Harris Bank is moving across the street. Elk Grove Bowl and the Shell gas station, meanwhile, have already been demolished. It's nothing like you've seen almost anywhere else. Most apartments are just square blocks. We told the developer we don't want building block apartments. We want something with class and character."
Elk Grove Village Mayor | Craig Johnson
A 267 unit apartment building is proposed along Arlington Heights Road. It would include:
- 5 story building
- 9,500 square feet of retail space
- Community area
- Swimming pool
- A pedestrian bridge would connect the visitor parking lot with Busse Woods
Two 3-story townhouse buildings of 16 units each would provide a buffer between the apartments and the long-standing single family homes to the east. All of these would be rentals. Each townhouse would have a two-car garage and driveway.
The village purchased the existing shopping center, former Elk Grove Bowl, bank, gas station and Rose Garden Cafe so that it had complete control of the entryway corner to the town. In a separate deal, the village conveyed the old Sweet Baby Ray's site at 800 E. Higgins Road to the Rose Garden owners in exchange for agreeing to cancel their lease at the shopping center early.
After approvals by the plan commission and the village board, the project could break ground as soon as this fall -- first with the retail buildings and then the residential buildings.
DataBid is currently reporting on this project - Arlington Heights Road Mixed Use Development - Arlington Heights (0087021121)
