The developers behind a controversial proposal for a mid-rise apartment building near a historic site have withdrawn their application for village approval.
The proposed 10-story, 24-unit apartment building is adjacent to the historic Boulevard Arcade Building on South Boulevard. Project architect John Schiess and developer J. Trent Stoner confirmed to Wednesday Journal that they’d pulled their application for zoning approval to revise the proposal.
“After thoughtful consideration, the Boulevard Arcade Homes development team has withdrawn its application for the proposed development from review by the village of Oak Park,” the developers wrote in an email to the Journal. “The team plans to reassess all aspects of the proposal with the intent of potentially submitting a revised development plan. We acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the village’s planning, engineering, and public works departments, as well as the fire and police departments, the Plan Commission, and the Historic Preservation Commission. We also thank the neighbors who participated in meetings and shared their perspectives.”
The proposal was set to be reviewed by Oak Park’s plan commission as the developer’s sought relief from zoning ordinances regarding building height, off-street parking and unit density.
Because the proposed building abuts the Boulevard Arcade Building, the project required a Certificate of Appropriateness from the village’s Historic Preservation Commission. The proposal came before that body several times over multiple years.
The preservation commission denied the necessary certificate four times in total, while some residents in the immediate area have been vocal in their opposition to the development.
In November 2025, Oak Park’s village board heard the developers’ appeal of the commission’s rulings and issued a COA for the building, overruling the Historic Preservation Commission citing a need for more housing in the village.
Before overruling the commission’s denial, several trustees said the village needed to work on its hearing process to avoid a repeated waste of both developer and commission time in the future.
“The fact that this has gone through four hearings and still needs to go through even more, I don’t know why they even want to build anything here,” Trustee Cory Wesley said at the meeting. “That’s a problem that we at this board need to fix. We can’t have people waiting a year before they know if they can actually build something. I think that’s going to cost us development that we could otherwise use.”
The village board’s decision caused two members of the Historic Preservation Commission to resign, including then-commission chair Louis Garapolo. In his resignation letter, Garapolo wrote that the board’s ruling on the project made it impossible for him to continue serving on the commission.
“In my opinion, this disregard for the required process has undermined the commission’s work and the integrity of Oak Park’s preservation ordinance,” he wrote in the letter, obtained by Wednesday Journal through a FOIA request. “Because of this recent board decision regarding 1035 South Blvd, I find it difficult to continue on the commission and proceed with a positive attitude.”
Former commissioner Mark Weiner also resigned following the board’s ruling.
“I served on the Historic Preservation Commission and Architectural Review Committee for 2 1/2 years,” Weiner wrote. “In that time, I learned the board and president do not appreciate or understand historic preservation, even though a large basis of Oak Park’s economic model involves historic tourism.”