Sometimes you just wind up with a bad or an inept building owner. That’s the case in Downtown Oak Park where the iconic Marshall Field building has been in the hands of the Karris family’s Water Tower Realty for far too long.
Now, again, the family is coming to village hall looking for special permission to circumvent well-considered zoning regulations requiring that at least the first 50 feet of first-floor space facing Lake Street must be retail. The family has already been given dispensations to permit a health care provider to lease other portions of the first floor.
With a Borders store now long gone, the Karris family says it has a deal with Bank of America to lease the primo retail space with frontage on both Harlem and Lake. The national bank pledges to spend $2 million to renovate the space into a “prototype financial center” that will, on completion, create 10 jobs.
What a crock.
What they call a “prototype financial center” the rest of us call a branch bank. We’d suggest that for cheap rent, Bank of America is buying a super-sized billboard at one of the prime intersections in the western suburbs.
Most towns, especially those on the grow, have banned bank uses in downtowns because they generate no sales tax, little foot traffic and, with only a handful of staff, don’t boost surrounding retail and restaurants.
It’s time for Water Tower Realty to give up its ownership of this venerable building and find an owner with fresh ideas that mesh with the energy of downtown Oak Park.
Next week when this matter goes to the zoning board, it should not be an enabler to a substandard use.