Frankfort village officials unanimously approved a sales contract for an investment group to purchase and redevelop property in the downtown area.
SDW Investments LLC will buy portions of village-owned parcels at 7 and 11 N. White St. for $250,018 with plans to create a new 11,300 square foot building to house a 5,450 square foot restaurant, two retail shops and office space for its relocated accounting firm, according to the sales contract.
Details of the plan will have to be reviewed by Frankfort’s plan commission and the 1890s Theme Committee, officials said.
The sale is contingent upon the village board’s final approval of the plan, the contract stated.
The restaurant is proposed to be built in a portion of the current parking lot at 7 N. White. A wooden deck would be added on to the older home at 11 N. White, which will be preserved for future commercial use. The adjacent parking lot would be reconfigured by adding spaces on the north and east side of the home, according to the proposed plan.
“The downtown historic district has always been the key to Frankfort’s identity,” said Trustee Cindy Heath in a video of the July 16 board meeting.
The board wants to ensure that the downtown is not only preserved but is “vibrant,” she said. The village purchased these and other lots downtown as they became available to control development in the area, Heath said.
Residents previously opposed a proposed banquet facility and a smaller event center, fearing traffic would disrupt the residential neighborhood adjacent to the downtown shopping district.
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Trustee Bob Kennedy said in the video that “doing nothing is not a viable strategy.”
“We need to develop this property and get it on the tax roll,” he said.
The village received one other proposal, from former village trustee Todd Morgan, of Morgan Premier Properties/LaSalle Street Securities LLC, who tweaked a plan he submitted in 2016.
He offered to buy 19,000 square feet of village-owned land at 11 and 19 N. White St. for $220,970, with plans to renovate the home at 11 N. White for commercial use, and construct an 8,000 square foot building with 3,000 square feet of retail and a 5,000 square foot “event studio,” according to the proposal he submitted in June.
Morgan and LaSalle Street Securities previously redeveloped the 115-year-old Heritage Hall for retail and office space on the west end of the downtown district.
Mayor Jim Holland said he favored SDW’s plan because the commercial buildings are farther away from homes, it provides more retail space, will be less intense uses than an event studio and bring customers to the downtown area every day.
“This fits into our plan to increase retail business to make the downtown more economically viable,” Holland said in the video.
With SDW’s plan, village officials also said they see no need to further develop the open green space that adjoins Prairie Park.