Tinley Plan Commission OKs Plans For Downtown Harmony Square Housing

TINLEY PARK, IL — Despite concerns by residents that the addition of a new mixed-use building that will feature apartments, townhomes, and retail space will drastically change the community, the Tinley Park Plan Commission is sending a proposal for the project forward to the village board.

Plan Commission board members have recommended plans for West Point at Harmony Square, a five-story building that will include 63 apartments that would be built above just more than 4,000 square feet of retail space near the Oak Park Avenue Metra station.

Last week’s meeting was to focus on a traffic report associated with the project, which would be built next to Tinley Park’s planned Harmony Square Plaza. But despite projections that added traffic that would come to the area would improve the village's economy, residents voiced their displeasure, claiming that the mixed-use building would have a direct impact on the property values of nearby owners of single-family homes.

Residents argued that they do not wish to live by apartment buildings, which invite renters who would be more transient than homeowners. Other residents who spoke to the board said that they are frustrated by what they said has been a lack of transparency on the part of village officials.

Plan Commission officials said that two previous meetings in which the project was discussed led to more than five hours of public comment.

The development of the area would include the construction of 60 townhomes, which would be built on the property that once housed Central Middle School.

The plans call for the townhomes to be three-story buildings that will include two-and-three-bedroom units ranging in size from 1,500 square feet to 1,800 square feet. The townhomes would include two-car garages as well as additional parking for vehicles outside of the buildings.

The added traffic coming from the new housing area would create issues for other local residents who claim that they already have difficulty backing out of their driveway while trains are going in and out of the nearby Metra station.

"We're all frustrated," one local homeowner told the Plan Commission at its meeting last week. "I live in a home that is 100 years old. I try to take care of it as best as I can — as for another 100 years? This development does not help me want to stay there for another 100 years in a house that has been in my family for 100 years. It just won't happen."

The former Central Middle School property has been owned by the Village of Tinley Park since 2005. The recommendation will now go to the full village board, which will consider the project at its November 21 meeting.

City officials have already discussed the idea of building a downtown plaza, which, according to the budget, could cost upwards of $13.3 million.

Designed by the Lakota Group, the plaza will be constructed on 1.6 acres and will include an adaptive plaza space that will have events scheduled year-round. Features will include an artificial turf lawn, a concert stage and a focal “gateway” plaza on the other, seasonal fire pits, a splash pad for summer that converts into an ice rink during the winter, and a support building for skate rentals and a warming hut, as well as other amenities.

"Harmony Square is part of a bigger plan to redevelop Downtown Tinley, which is already underway with the opening of the Boulevard at Central Station and the many new businesses along Oak Park Avenue," Tinley Park Mayor Mike Glotz said previously. "Once complete, it will be the living room of Tinley Park, a central hub where people will come to hang out and relax."

The proposed apartments have been characterized as being high-end luxury units and would be part of the project, which is being developed just east of Oak Park Avenue near North Street by West Point Builders.

Despite projections that the increased traffic would enhance Tinley Park’s economy, local homeowners maintain that it will not only worsen traffic in the area but be a detriment to residents seeking a community-friendly neighborhood.

"You're dropping this subdivision into an existing neighborhood," Tinley Park resident Terri Murphy said at last week's meeting.

She added: "I think it's going to affect property values because we know (the units) are going to be for rent. We know they're going to be subsidized and so it's going to affect property values. Renters have no skin in the game. They come and they go at will, they don't pay property taxes — they have no skin in the game, they're transient and it will affect the property values of people who own those homes because these people don't want to live in rental areas."