Journal Reporter

Major redevelopment in Park Ridge just keeps coming and coming.

Uptown redevelopment with PRC Partners is just beginning construction and is still mired in controversy and lawsuits. So here comes another huge proposal for the Uptown area, bringing with it many of the same challenges, problems, and opportunities.

S. B. Friedman & Co. and Lakota urban design group trotted out this week a preliminary marketing study and some preliminary concepts for a triangular section of Uptown bordered by Northwest Highway on the south, Touhy Avenue on the north, six corners on the west, and stretching possibly to as far as Elmore Street on the east.

This area now includes another major Uptown landmark, the colonial-style Bank One tower, as well as the Million-Dollar Roundtable office building, Oberweis Dairy store, two buildings occupied by George S. May Co., and a dozen or so other businesses, plus parking areas. Right in the middle is Berry Parkway, a small street of single family homes.

Some months ago, the city asked Lakota and Friedman to begin studying this area for possible redevelopment. The far northwest corner of this area is Target Area III in the city's long-range redevelopment plan for Uptown. Bank One is across six corners from Target Area II, on which construction already is underway by PRC Partners.

The Planning and Zoning Commission held a two-hour workshop on this matter Monday night (Dec. 12). It was mostly brain-storming, because no firm proposals of any kind are on the table, nor are any likely to come forth soon. "We just need some initial feedback from city officials on some possibilities and ideas for this area," said a Lakota spokesman.

He rolled out about half-a-dozen options, all of which included a mix of condos, retail spaces, townhomes, and some of which offered office space.

All 14 of the city's aldermen were there and participated in small-group discussions, along with P&Z members and city department heads.

In one small group discussion attended by this writer, there were strong differences of opinion over the role of retail, versus residential, and what the market was for offices.

In its preliminary market study, Friedman officials said the market for office space in the O'Hare Airport area, which includes Park Ridge, now is soft, and the vacancy rate of office space in Park Ridge is more than 30 percent, one of the highest in the O'Hare sector. Several office buildings in this site now under discussion are vacant, including buildings formerly occupied by the Polish Women's Alliance and the American Farm Bureau.

Some aldermen expressed some support for some of Lakota's concepts, but there was little or no consensus, at this early date, about what to do with this area.

Two aldermen supported a strong retail presence, while a member of the P&Z Commission cautioned that a strong retail development could have an adverse affect on single family homes across Touhy Avenue to the north and elsewhere in the area.

City officials said meetings will be held in the near future with property owners, and with residents who live near the area. A public meeting where residents can ask questions and make comments will be held in January, they added, and more such meetings may be held later this year.

The proposed site under discussion is directly across Northwest Highway from St. Paul of the Cross church and school, located at Washington Street.