A year after the village came up with development guidelines, Block Three in downtown Lake Bluff still contains only an empty bank building.
It’s not for a lack of proposals. In February, Uppercross Development Group pitched a 16-unit development on the block bordered by Oak, Evanston, North and Scranton. Residents who flooded village hall for a meeting were uniformly opposed to the proposal, many citing height and density as concerns.
A second proposal by Roanoke Group in July was recently withdrawn by the developer. Roanoke had pitched constructing two three-story buildings with a total of 16 units. The third floor penthouses would be set back, making them less visible from a street level view. Again, residents spoke against the proposal.
“At the end of the day, there was too much negativity about it,” said Peter Kyte, principal at Roanoke Group. “A lot of concern from residents about a three-story building.”
On Sept. 12, village trustees amended development requirements for the block, limiting any development to 30 feet in height with no more than two stories.
The village would like to see multi-unit residential development on the site of the former PNC Bank, said Village Manager Drew Irvin. Any development should serve as a transition from the central business district to the single family homes nearby.
Kyte wonders if it would be worthwhile for a developer to construct residences no higher than two stories for the .76 acre site.
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“I think you could probably do something that was two stories and make it financially feasible but it would have to be one contiguous structure from lot line to lot line,” Kyte said.
Asked if a height limitation could discourage prospective development proposals, Irvin said he’s not certain.
Currently there are no proposals in the pipeline for the block Irvin said on Sept. 23, although he added he’d recently fielded phone calls about the property.
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