Jimmy John's, Rookies Coming to Huntley

Plans for a new Regency Square retail center aren't moving as freaky fast as Jimmy John's deliveries, but the developer hopes things move fast enough for a fall groundbreaking.

Elgin-based Interstate Partners showed Huntley trustees a revised site plan for a 3,747 square foot building and a 7,977 square foot building Thursday that addressed trustees’ earlier concerns about a monument sign and parking.

Trustees were happy with the changes.

“Welcome to Huntley. We appreciate you coming and we will work with you as much as we can,” Trustee Harry Leopold said.

Under the revised plan, the developer added 28 parking spaces

And added brick to the monument sign to be consistent with other signs in the area. Other changes included expanding a patio area and providing more space for cars in the drive-through.

Interstate Partners has already has a lease signed by with Jimmy John’s and Rookies, said Jeff Possin, director of real estate.

The company is working at getting more national chains to sign leases and come to Huntley, Possin said.

“It will happen,” he said. Typically, retailers get ahead of development but the economy has retailers taking a wait and see attitude about opening new locations, he said.

Huntley’s full interchange at Route 47 and Interstate 90, now under construction, and the announcement that Centegra Health System will build a new hospital will help draw retailers, he said.

Leopold said he’d like to see Panera and Starbucks come to the new Regency Square retail center. Panera is a business that rated high among residents in a survey the village conducted a few years ago asking what restaurants they’d like to see in Huntley, he said.

Village trustees will vote on the plan and issuing special use permits for the drive-through at an Aug. 9 meeting.