The retail-residential complex rising on what was once 611 Green Bay Road in downtown Wilmette returned to village board attention April 11, when its developers asked trustees to give them the right to turn real windows planned for a ground floor walkway into decorative false windows.
Trustees approved the request from M&R Development, which is building the five-story project now known as The Residences of Wilmette, after hearing from John Adler, the village’s community development director.
The two windows were originally planned to face out onto a narrow walkway between the project’s north wall and the building immediately to the north on Green Bay Road, and had been part of an effort to add light to the walkway’s narrowest section, roughly 87 feet along the length of the building next door, where it is only five feet across, Adler said.
The window, designed for the first 12 to 15 feet of the walkway’s Green Bay exit point, would also provide visual interest in what would otherwise be a lengthy section of blank wall, he said April 14.
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However, M&R asked to change the design from working windows with transparent glass to a design that looks like windows, but is actually blank wall covered by opaque so-called spandrel glass, he said.
Steven Gregory, M&R’s project manager, explained that M&R wants to design the ground floor space onto which the windows would open into a ground floor “amenity area” that he said would add value and marketability to the retail-residential complex. Having windows that open onto the blank wall of the building next door wouldn’t do so, he said.
Village President Bob Bielinski agreed, saying that real windows would expose what he called “an ugly view.”
Gregory also said that the goal of having the walkway lit by illumination from inside the building would probably not be met, since working windows would probably be blocked from the inside by blinds or curtains. The outdoor view would be the same with the false windows, he said.
Because The Residences of Wilmette is set up as a planned unit development, or PUD, changes to the design can either be defined as major – changes to the size, or building bulk, for example – or as minor, which the window adjustment would be, Adler said.
Normally, a minor PUD change would be reviewed and decided by village staff, not the village board, he told trustees. In this case, he said, he and his staff felt uncomfortable making the decision without turning to the board for input.
“The staff would have liked (the building design) if there was more light spilling out from inside the building onto the walkway,” Adler said April 14. “And if there had been a more interesting view along the walkway, where there’s not a lot right now.”
However, he also told trustees that he felt more at ease with the proposal after learning that M&R has already framed the windows. That means that, should the view to the north change for any reason, real windows could easily be installed, he said.
Gregory also assured trustees that M&R can put additional exterior lighting on the walls, and have planned security cameras for the area. When Trustee Senta Plunkett called the area “pretty claustrophobic” and asked if the developer would consider lighting the walkway during the day, Gregory said lights could be put on a time clock to go on at around 3 p.m.
The development is scheduled for completion by the end of the summer.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy