What once was a one-man race could be turning into a competition.
The lone respondent to Oak Park’s design competition for the village owned property at Madison Street and Highland Avenue presented a rough concept to the board Monday.
Called Madison and Highlands LLC-a team comprised of local architects, developers and marketers-the team’s preliminary concept stretched from Highland all the way to Harvey, also incorporating a property already owned by the team at Harvey and Madison.
Dennis Marani, the property’s previous owner and president of the Madison Street Business Association, sold the land at the corner of Harvey and Madison to the team, said Nevin Hedlund, a River Forest architect and principal of the team.
Parking, parking, parking: The first floor concept shows a cul-de-sac on Highland Avenue and a garage ramp just off Harvey Avenue
Rendering courtesy of Village of Oak Park
Highlights of the team’s concept included a 317 space, 3-story parking structure, a cul-de-sac just south of the alley on Highland, a landscape buffer separating the development from residential properties on Harvey and the demolition of a home on Harvey, also owned by the development team.
It also incorporates first floor retail, which would be market driven, along with upper level residential or office use. It is undecided which use might be preferred.
Hedlund said the cul-de-sac won’t make or break their concept, but the demolition of the Harvey residential property is important to the logistics of the garage, with a potential in and out ramp placed near that space.
“The efficiency would drop dramatically and the cost for space would go up,” Hedlund said.
Both Hedlund and Bob Clements, the village’s acting director of development services, emphasized that everything is conceptual at this point. Now that the team has earned the $10,000 stipend from the village, though, it can go back and flesh out its plan.
Some members of the village board wanted to spend more time to digest the team’s plan before awarding the stipend, but others urged the board to move forward with the development competition as planned.
Trustee Ray Johnson said the village bought the property in 2002, and no progress has been made on redeveloping it since then.
“We find ourselves in a soft economic environment with some significant economic uncertainties, not just in Oak Park but in Illinois and indeed the country,” Johnson said. “It would be my hope that we move forward expeditiously to the next phase.”
Joseph Kyles, a hair salon owner at 309 Madison St. and a 16-year resident of Oak Park had discussions with the village about using the Madison and Highland property in the past. Kyles assembled his own development team two years ago but was told to hold off by the village.
Kyles said he wasn’t informed about the development competition and wants a chance to submit a plan, even though the Oct. 10 deadline has passed.
Village Manager Tom Barwin said the village sent information about the competition to all business owners in the vicinity of Madison and Highland, but said it’s possible some got lost in the mail, pointing out that others have said they didn’t get the materials.
The board encouraged Kyles to submit an initial concept within a week to 10 days, and said they’d allow for some flexibility if Kyles and his team needed a little extra time.
Potentially, the second team will also receive a $10,000 stipend sometime this month, and, if so, both teams will present a detailed plan to the board on Jan. 15.