Downtown Clarendon Hills Condo Building Supported by Village Board

A plan proposing construction of a three-story condominium development in downtown Clarendon Hills went in front of village trustees for the first time Monday night and garnered a rather warm reception.

The Clarendon Hills Village Board heard from Clarendon Hills resident Mike Van Zandt, who owns the vacant land at 103 S. Prospect Ave., and numerous community members for and against the development during its first consideration of the eight-unit residential-only development that requires passage of a special-use permit as well as a comprehensive plan amendment allowing it to be located in the village’s business district despite having no first-floor retail.

A first-consideration vote was taken and garnered the support of all six trustees, but a final decision won’t be made until after the board holds its second consideration of the plan, which will likely take place Oct. 21.

Village President Tom Karaba said he was pleased with the development, which since it was first proposed in January has shrunk from four stories and 11 units to three stories and eight units, and has come to include several new aesthetic features including varying types of brick, bigger windows, and a new pergola at the corner of Prospect and Park Avenue.

He said it's an example of a development that's "simply not a solid brick wall."

“I think you did a nice job with the angles and the setbacks and rooflines," Karaba said. "It’s a very nice-looking building."

Trustee Steve Wallace, the village board’s land use chair, said the development is improved with the reduction in the building’s size, serving as a “transitioning property” between the single-family residential district and business district.

“This is the end of a process that, while it’s not perfect, it certainly produced some good results," Wallace said.

A common talking point throughout the development’s travel through the Zoning Board of Appeals/Plan Commission and Downtown Design Review Committee, both of which unanimously approved the plan, has been its lack of retail space at a well-trafficked Clarendon Hills intersection.

Van Zandt said retail space in the development is not feasible because new-construction rent rates would be too high for small-business tenants, and the national retailers that could afford the rates are not interested in locating in downtown Clarendon Hills. He also said banks would not be interested in financing his project if it contained first-floor retailers.

“I think the project should be viewed as one that supports our existing downtown retailers and ... the first step in some downtown revitalization,” Van Zandt said.

Though the trustees seemed to be supportive of the structure, several residents who live nearby spoke up during Monday’s meeting to voice opposition to the plan based on the building’s size and lack of retail, as well as traffic and safety issues it could cause.

Pat Simpson lives at 105 S. Prospect, next to the vacant property, and said she was concerned that the plan would be approved while the village’s Downtown Master Plan Update is ongoing. 

Simpson said she and other participants in the downtown update were asked what kind of downtown they want.

“A large number of respondents said they want downtown to remain quaint, charming, with a small-town feel," Simpson said. "This development is not quaint and it’s not charming from that aspect of being quaint, and it doesn’t have a small-town feel."

She said if the village is going to allow a residential-only building at that space, then the property should be re-zoned residential so that greater setbacks in line with non-retail structures would be required.

"The zoning board authorized this mismatch; it’s not too late for the village board to say no," Simpson said.

Van Zandt said he estimates the high-end condos, geared toward elderly Clarendon Hills residents who want to downsize without moving away, will sell for between $500,000 and $700,000. He said he wants to have at least five units sold before beginning construction.

In addition to structural changes and landscaping improvements implemented since January, the developer has also agreed to design and install a new water main along the east side of Prospect that would supply retailers north of the development and make donations to the park and school districts based on the population increase generated by his development.

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