After delaying its choice for over a month, the Oak Park village board picked a group Monday to develop a village-owned parcel of land on Madison Street.
The board originally planned to choose a finalist last January in a competition for two village-owned parking lots at Madison Street and Highland Avenue, totaling about 27,000 square feet. But one team, ABGA LLC, was still working to acquire a piece of land and didn’t yet have its finances in order.
With concerns about contributions from the Madison TIF and questions about which project made more sense for the street, the board chose to wait.
But on Monday, the board selected Madison and Highlands LLC. The proposed building includes a four-story structure with a bridge over Highland. All parking for the development is contained in a two-story garage at the rear of the development.
The building includes four retail spaces on the first floor, totaling about 18,000 square feet. Tenants could include an upscale restaurant and deli/coffee shop, Nevin Hedlund, architect for the project, said.
The upper three floors contain commercial office space, totaling 56,000 square feet.
The team eliminated one level of its proposed garage, decreasing parking from 232 spaces to 152, Bob Clements, acting director of development services said. With the smaller garage, the group no longer needed a subsidy. However, the current garage doesn’t include public parking, which might need to be added later, changing the level of village participation, Hedlund said.
Village staff reviewed the need for more residential units on Madison (proposed by ABGA) vs. adding office space to the area. With the weakened housing market, they determined the offices were a more viable option, Village Manager Tom Barwin said.
The village purchased part of the land 25 years ago, and another slice in 2002. Value of the parcels will be determined as part of negotiations with the developer. The two parties will work toward an agreement. The project would then run through Oak Park’s review processes.
“The only binding thing is we will now sit down and noodle out the details,” Clements said. “There’s no guarantee we’re going to get to the finish line. That’s the way the process was set up.”
CONTACT: mstempniak@wjinc.com