Elmhurst officials hope a city-owned parking lot on Addison Avenue will draw a developer interested in building premium office space in the city’s downtown but are undecided on how best to market the property.
Aldermen on the Development, Zoning and Planning Committee took another look at the project on Monday, reviewing a city-prepared request for development proposals for the 22,500square-foot parcel at 138 and 142 N. Addison but also holding out the possibility of simply listing the parcel with real estate brokers.
The lot is across the street from the soon-to-be-built Addison Avenue parking garage, which will add 690 parking spaces to the city’s downtown.
A new project on the site would continue a wave of development along the street. The city’s Zoning Commission recently approved the six-story Morningside Hahn Street project, set to bring 192 rental apartments to the area between York Street and Addison around Hahn Street. The Zoning Commission has also approved a 31-unit, six-story condominium building, Wilder Crossing, to be built a block north of the new garage.
Both projects must be reviewed by the Development, Zoning and Planning Committee before final city council approval.
Whether the parking lot site is marketed through a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) or a simple real estate listing, aldermen hope to channel development toward an office project.
“I wish it could be office, to bring in a daytime population,” said committee chairman Ald. Scott Levin, noting that downtown restaurants and businesses are feeling the loss of daytime customers since Elmhurst Memorial Hospital employees moved from just east of downtown to a new campus on South York Street.
“I agree office would be an ideal use,” said Ald. Dannee Polomsky, the committee’s vice chairman. “I think the parking garage will be a catalyst for downtown.”
Polomsky said she could go along with simply listing the property with a broker.
Ald. Mark Mulliner, the third committee member, joined Levin in favoring an RFP.
“To have some control over what the facility will be would be important to us,” Mulliner said. “It’s really critical to get offices in downtown.”
Assistant City Manager Mike Kopp said Monday that comparisons with some recent land sales in the city indicated the site’s value could be between $900,000 and $1.3 million.
Kopp, who shepherded the preparation of the preliminary RFP, agreed with committee members that some of the detailed requirements could be dropped to make it easier and less expensive for potential developers to make some initial response.
Levin asked for what he called “a non-traditional hybrid between an RFP and selling outright.”
Kopp is expected to bring that revised document back for review at the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 10.
