In 2015, Mayor Steve Lentz said a major component of economic redevelopment in Mundelein is a larger population, and one year later he says progress is being made.
That first declaration came during a Feb. 2015 meeting on economic development, when Lentz was fielding a heap of criticism.
“Once you have infrastructure and social services, you need people to create an economy,” Lentz said during the 2015 forum. “You need customers to make successful businesses. We’re going to work on increasing our population.”
Six different residential projects were mentioned when Lentz held his second annual economic forum last month.
“Over the last five years, we’ve had about a 0.8 percent increase in population,” Lentz said during the Feb. 29 event. “The good news is we haven’t lost people. The bad news is it could be higher and we’d like it to be higher.”
Lentz’s presentation referenced statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau that said Mundelein’s estimated population in 2015 was 31,637, a growth of 573 people since 2010.
While Lentz said he did not have annual figures of population growth, he did mention the progress since 2015 on the Cardinal Square project, a nine-building condominium development near the Metra station that became apartments in recent years.
The first building has 84 units and Lentz said it’s 90 percent full. The second building, which opened in August, has 65 units and is 50 percent full.
Cardinal Square is located in Mundelein’s downtown district and nearby on a 3-acre piece of property a developer has agreed to build a high-rise structure with 27,000 square feet of retail or restaurant space on the first floor, 130 residential units on the above four floors and an underground parking garage, Lentz said.
A few blocks away, construction began Sept. 29 on a 40-unit affordable housing apartment complex known as Fairhaven Crossing.
At the very far edge of Mundelein’s downtown zoning is the vacant 112,000-square foot former U.S. Music building at 444 E. Courtland St., which Lentz said has been sold to a developer.
Amanda Orenchuk, acting director of community development, said the project is residential in nature, but declined to provide further information.
“One of the best ways to develop a downtown is to increase your density,” Lentz said. “If you have a population that’s declining, you’re in big trouble.”
Resident Angela Trillhaase said a more dense downtown will cause greater wear on roads and sewer lines, and will need more police and fire service. Trillhaase said she’s concerned about how Mundelein will pay those costs.
Lentz conceded the notion of higher cost for public services, but said those new residents would be the foundation of a new economy and tax base.
“And, we’re finding that less and less young people are aspiring to purchase a single-family house in the suburban setting,” Lentz said. “Rather they’re going for the urban life and doing more walking,”
However, Mundelein is still seeing traditional single-family development at the Orchard Meadows subdivision between Route 60/83 and Midlothian Road, where 77 houses are being built. As of Feb. 18, 15 houses have been sold, Lentz said.
A developer in mid-2013 bought a failed condo development off Diamond Lake and submitted plans for a 36-unit apartment building called the Coves of Mundelein. Lentz said that project is nearly completed.
Lentz said Mundelein also needs current or future homeowners to invest in renovations. He said Mundelein has a fair amount of homes that are 60 years old and either not well maintained or not modern, both of which present a challenge to the housing market.
“We need to redevelop our aging neighborhoods,” Lentz said. “We need for people to come in with some equity and remodeling those homes.”
Arnold Krinski, who identified himself as a resident of the Del Webb senior citizen subdivision, questioned aspects of Lentz’s plans for growth.
“With the significant number of families that will be living in all these units, has anyone done an analysis on the school systems to see if they can handle the additional students?” Krinski said. “Those of us in the senior community are concerned about what our taxes will look like in the coming years.”
Orenchuk said the school districts charge housing developers one-time impact fees that help offset added financial burdens.
Lentz said data from the first Cardinal Square building only showed about three students going to Mundelein Schools.
“Those kind of buildings don’t typically have children,” Lentz said.
Twitter @Rick_Kambic