Quarrying for homes is a new phenomenon in northwest suburban Algonquin. Building residences in a former quarry can have certain advantages: The rolling terrain, for example, is suitable for walkout basements.
Far from being the typical, flat cornfield subdivision, the quarried landscape offers views from a variety of elevations. And lakes form in low-lying areas.
Realen Homes saw the potential at an almost 40-year-old gravel quarry in Algonquin. The 200-acre site now is planned for 285 single-family homes and 104 townhouses.
Called Algonquin Lakes, almost 50 percent of the land will be open space, including three lakes named for the first settlers in Algonquin: Cornish, Plumleigh and Gillilan. Eight single-family models are under construction and are scheduled to open next month, according to Randy Harris, president of Realen’s Illinois division.
Townhouse models will be built next spring.
Base prices range from the $180,000s to more than $200,000 in the Settlement Series of three- or four-bedroom single-family homes. They have 1,467 to 2,200 square feet of living area.
The Village Series of single-family homes is base-priced from about $220,000 to $250,000 for 2,400 to 3,000 square feet with four or five bedrooms.
The townhouses will start in the $140,000s.
Recycling the quarry for residential use required extra effort.
“We had to do a lot of soil investigation to determine the feasibility of building,” said Harris. “Then we had to move 1 million cubic yards of earth to prepare the site.”
The first buyers are expected to move in before year-end.
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A key feature of the development will be the park to be built by the village at the southern end of the site. It is planned to have ballfields, basketball courts, play areas for young children, and even a skateboard track and in-line hockey rink.
A beach and bathhouse will border Lake Cornish, which will offer swimming, boating and fishing. Walking and biking paths will wind around the lakes. Algonquin Lakes is on the south side of Algonquin Road (Illinois Highway 62) about a mile east of the Fox River.