For those of you new to the Lemont Downtown Redevelopment project, this article provides a good start:A destination in the making
Developer has plans to turn downtown Lemont into trendy shopping district
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
By Steve Schmadeke, Staff writer
Lemont's aging downtown could be transformed into a trendy shopping district surrounded by ballfields, a cinema, a canal walk and pricey condominiums, according to a preliminary plan presented Monday night. A Romeoville-based developer, Marquette Cos., has proposed an $80 million redevelopment to create new housing and
office space downtown, along with parking garages, improved streets and a scenic area along the Illinois & Michigan Canal.
In return, Lemont would create a special taxing district and revise current zoning to facilitate the downtown project. The redevelopment project would begin with about 16 acres, although Marquette now has only a contract on a single 1.5-acre site. The 16 acres are bordered by the Metra station parking lot on the west, Stephen Street on the east, the Metra tracks on the south and the freight line tracks on the north. Village and Marquette officials hope, within 10 years, to convince the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to allow them to extend the redevelopment onto about 200 industrial acres north of downtown that are owned by the MWRD and were annexed into Lemont last year. But Mayor John Piazza said the redevelopment would work even if the MWRD property never became available.
Bruno Bottarelli, a managing director and founder of Marquette Cos., said Lemont's downtown retail sales have started to plateau. To capture revenue lost to "destination" shopping in Naperville and Oak Brook, Lemont needs to create an "authentic town environment" with a steady flow of shoppers who live nearby, he said. Marquette's first phase of the project would include a 60-unit condo and office building and a 250-car parking garage at 240 River St. The garage would be blocked from view by a storefront and the condo building, which would face the canal walk.Marquette hopes to price the condos starting at $320,000. The company would clean the canal and its banks and install walking paths and new landscaping along the waterway. But the MWRD land is the ultimate prize. Marquette wants to create a "wharf district" on the eastern half of the MWRD property with loft apartments, entertainment venues and views of barge traffic. Single-family homes would be built on the western half of the property. If all goes as planned, 2006 could be a year of major change for the village of about 15,000.
The downtown redevelopment would begin that spring, and construction of a bridge to carry the Interstate 355 extension over the Des Plaines River is scheduled to begin that summer.
"(The downtown redevelopment) is something the village can be proud of for hundreds of years to come," Piazza told about 100 people, mostly village business owners, who gathered Monday night at village hall for Marquette's unveiling of the draft plan. "It's an intimidating idea. It's so different than what we have now. We're treating it with a great deal of care."
Those attending were mostly pleased as they looked at watercolor drawings, depicting shoppers strolling through a revitalized downtown. "They're moving the village in the right direction," said Nancy Eriksen, owner of a Main Street flower shop.
"We've needed someone with the big dollars to do a project like this," said her husband, Jay, owner of Graystone Builders. Even Ed Andrysiak, who tried unsuccessfully to build a marina near Lemont's quarries about 15 years ago, thought Marquette had a good plan. But he wondered how much of it could be accomplished. "I'm 70 years old," he said. "Do you think I'll live to see it?" Not everyone liked what they saw Monday night. A couple of business owners were upset as they left Marquette's presentation. Kevin Gorski was disturbed by plans to build a new Metra station parking lot where his family's business has stood since 1915. Gorski Distributors operates and maintains school buses from its location, 46 State St., and would be forced to vacate almost all of its three-acre site. "That doesn't leave much room for us," Gorski said, adding that no one had contacted the family about the plans. "Maybe we can fit one school bus there."
Piazza said that aspect of the plan only emerged a couple of weeks ago and that a lot of negotiations lay ahead. "There's still a lot of work to be done," he said. "I'm 95 percent certain that the vast majority of the community is behind this."
Monday's presentation came at the end of five days of design workshops hosted by Marquette, all of them open to the public. Lemont's next step is to create the special taxing district. In about two months, Marquette's plan will be reviewed in a joint session of the village board, plan commission and zoning board of review.
Steve Schmadeke may be reached at sschmadeke@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5966.
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