The on-again, off-again development of an 8.5 acre parcel along Route 60 and Saunders Road in Lake Forest is on for a third time.
Jason Smith, of Smith Capital Management in Lake Bluff, and Middleton Partners of Northbrook closed on the property March 9. Smith said he had his eye on the land in the Amberley Woods neighborhood since around 2010.
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“It’s a gateway property into Lake Forest,” Smith said. “The highway is one block away, it has great visibility and there are 12,000 to 15,000 office workers in the area who need places to go.”
The Shiner Group of Wilmette purchased the property with the intention of attracting a Whole Foods market as an anchor store, but dropped plans in July 2014 when the Lake Forest City Council declined to decrease a setback from Route 60, which Shiner Group said it needed for parking spaces.
In January 2015, Whole Foods said it no longer planned to open a store at the location, but by April 2015 said it would be willing to take a second look when Pine Tree Commercial Realty of Northbrook created a new scaled-down plan that called for less parking. The plan fizzled in June 2015 when Whole Foods decided to instead go after a site in Vernon Hills, according to city officials.
Enter Smith Capital Management and Middleton Partners. Smith, who grew up and lives in Lake Forest, said they plan to spend the next one to two years seeking users. Those users could include retailers, a spa or restaurants. Unlike past plans, the site wouldn’t necessarily have an anchor tenant like Whole Foods.
Still up in the air is the future of the David C. Everitt mansion on the property. The Tudor revival home was designed in 1929 by Oldefest & Williams and was designated a historic landmark by the city in 2003.
Smith is careful in his response when asked about its future.
“It’s in pretty major disrepair,” Smith said. “Our early marketing plans are to try to use it. It’s difficult to repurpose because its located in the wrong spot.”
The site is zoned as a transitional district for a mix of uses, said Cathy Czerniak, community development director for the city of Lake Forest.
Czerniak anticipates Smith and Middleton Partners will eventually approach the city for approval of a new site plan. A site plan would have to be recommended by the Plan Commission and then approved by the City Council, with architectural details to be reviewed by the Building Review Board.
“The Council has, in the past, indicated support for development of that site for a mix of uses,” Czerniak said. “I think the council is very eager to see that property developed.”
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