Parking overflowed to an adjacent lot and wide-eyed customers crammed the aisles when Mariano’s Fresh Market opened in Arlington Heights on Tuesday.
Just a block north, though, a fenced-in lot — vacant except for garbage, piles of dirt and overgrown weeds and, ironically, called Arlington Market — is a remnant of a redevelopment project long ago abandoned. It’s still not cleaned up, despite court action by the village against the former developer.
That Arlington Heights landed the new grocery store — particularly at the site of a longstanding Chevrolet dealership that itself fell victim to the economic downturn — is one indicator that redevelopment is picking up again.
The nearby lot is an indicator that the turnaround remains slow.
Like many northern suburbs, Arlington Heights has seen development sputter and stall during the economy’s long slide. Applications for new projects dried up, some approved projects were delayed and others were abandoned.
Now officials are seeing some progress on some of those old projects, along with more discussion about new ones.
“I don’t think Arlington Heights is out of the woods, but it looks like things are beginning to show some encouraging signs,” Village Manager Bill Dixon said.
After virtually no development activity for the first three quarters of last year, Dixon said developers “started talking about new projects” in late 2009 and “Now lots of projects are being discussed.”
Even on the Arlington Market site, Pulte Home Corp. recently won final approval to build 66 town-houses in 10 buildings on the northern portion of the site at Dryden Place and Kensington Road.
Pulte’s Mark Mastrorocco said work on what’s been dubbed Arlington Crossings will begin in late summer or early fall, and the builder has also agreed to clear the mess left by the other, departed developer.
That project was originally approved in 2006 as a mix of homes and condos. But none of the residences was ever built, as the original developer, Elliott Group, ran into financial difficulties and eventually abandoned the project.
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“It was definitely the economy,” Mayor Arlene Mulder said of Elliott’s problems and the long delay in finding another developer. “It’s good for Pulte and good for the neighborhood that has long awaited the cleanup of that property.”
On the south end of town, demolition work has finally commenced on a long-shuttered gas station, dubbed an eyesore by Mulder, and adjacent buildings at Arlington Heights and Golf roads.
After trying for years to reach agreement on the gas station property, the village is now taking steps to acquire it by eminent domain, said Bill Enright, deputy director of planning and community development.
The gas station site sits between two properties the village already owns, a former strip mall and Japanese restaurant, and Enright said demolishing them will help the clear the way for an integrated redevelopment of the entire corner.
That could take a while, though. In addition to environmental cleanup needed at the gas station site, former Arlin-Golf owner Ron Popp has sued the village, claiming unfair tactics were used to force him to sell the strip mall. The suit was dismissed in federal court, but Popp has refiled it.
Meanwhile, the village has also been in talks to find someone to reopen the Sheraton Hotel and water park next to Arlington Park racetrack that abruptly closed last year.
John Melaniphy, village business and development coordinator, said there has been interest in the Sheraton, but so far no buyers.
“I think it will reopen. It’s only a matter of time,” he said.
The redevelopment picture is similarly mixed in other north and northwest suburbs.
In Evanston, permit applications and zoning inquiries have increased in recent months, said director of community development Lehman Walker, who recently announced his departure from the city’s staff.
He called the uptick “a slight turnaround in the economy. … People are opening new businesses and expanding existing ones.”
Deerfield Village Manager Kent Street said his community recently landed an athletic equipment store called Running Away Multisport, and a children’s big-box retailer called Wonder! is to open early next year at Deerbrook Mall.
On the residential front, though, the once-popular practice of speculation building — putting up houses without buyers lined up — has “evaporated,” Street said.
Schaumburg continues to see a mix of retail and commercial development, said community development director J. Christopher Huff, adding that most residential development has “morphed” from new construction to renovation. Several new residential projects did go dormant during the downturn but are now showing signs of revival.
A new Whole Foods and Crate & Barrel also opened recently.
“Communities with good quality of life and amenities will always be on the radar screen (for new development),” Huff said.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter; Michelle Stoffel is a TribLocal reporter.