The John Buck Company (JBC), a developer of large projects in the city of Chicago, is in the process of creating new economic life for two suburbs with plans for unusual developments:
In Oak Brook, JBC is planning the village’s The first mixed use development, according to a local government official:
In Cicero, the firm is planning the redevelopment of the 89-acre Sportsman’s Park site, a project a city official said would be one of the biggest retail commercial redevelopments in Cook County in the past half-century and an indication of the “New Cicero,” a phrase used on the city’s Web site.
Oak Brook
The Clearwater Collection development in Oak Brook, located at the intersection of 22nd Street and York Road north of the Butler National Golf Club, will include:
- a 17-story building with 75 condominiums;
- an approximately 140-room, five-story hotel;
- 80,000 square-feet of high-end retail and dining venues; and
- a 50,000 square-foot health club.
“The site will feature ample parking and beautifully landscaped park-like grounds,” said Susan E. Hammersley, senior vice president of JBC.
Hammersley said prices for the condominiums have not yet been announced. A sales office will be opened soon for the 15-acre development. Ground is expected to broken in the first quarter of 2008.
An existing office building on the site will remain, but a warehouse building will be demolished, Hammersley indicated. No figures about the cost of the development were revealed.
For the Clearwater development JBC has teamed with Edward R. James Homes, a company which builds upscale homes from the North Shore to Barrington and Hinsdale. “More than just tower residences, Clearwater will deliver the most stylish living in Oak Brook,” James Homes notes on its Web site.
“The Clearwater development is the first opportunity for Oak Brook to have a truly mixed-use development of office, retail and residential,” said Bob Kallien, community development director for the village. “No other property has all those.”
He added that the Oak Brook Center has primarily retail and some office space.
“It is a significant step for Oak Brook to add residential space which has been happening in growing downtowns of other suburban communities,” said Kallien. “We hope this will be a springboard for other developments as a part of the commercial revitalization plans being formulated by a consultant for Oak Brook.”
Kallien pointed out that Oak Brook has some outdated buildings and needs some code changes in terms of the height of buildings and mixed-use projects.
Oak Brook should also consider widening of roads and modernizing traffic signals,” he said, noting that government officials will hold public meetings on those issues later this year.
The Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce is “very excited” about the Clearwater development and other changes that could come in the revitalization plan which will be presented in detail in September, said Tracy Mulqueen, its president and chief executive officer.
The Chamber has been working on plans with the village and will continue to do so, she indicated.
JBC has developed in excess of 28 million square-feet of office, residential, retail and hotel properties over 25 years. One notable development is North Bridge, a mixed-use development including nine city blocks with approximately 1 million square-feet of retail space anchored by a Nordstrom store on North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. The area also includes five hotels with 2,400 rooms, 1 million square-feet of offices, 457 apartments and 2,200 parking spaces.
Cicerco
Excitement is apparent in Cicero over the combined leisure/retail complex being developed by JBC on the former site of Sportsman’s Park at 3301 S. Laramie Ave.
It’s a project that Town President Larry Dominick said will be one of the biggest retail commercial redevelopments in Cook County in the past 50 years. The town’s Web site touts it as indicative of a “New Cicero.” No date has yet been scheduled for groundbreaking.
A key part of the venture was Dominick’s idea for 21 acres of green space that will ultimately be returned to the town. Dubbed “Laramie Park,” that area will include an 11-acre fairground with an outdoor amphitheater and what town officials are calling a 10-acre walk-through park.
“Fountain Square,” the other portion of the redevelopment, includes 58.25 acres of buildable space after deducting 7.94 acres for storm water retention areas.
JBC has not revealed the names of tenants, but plans call for three large retailers with 205,000 square-feet for a discount department store/grocery, 140,000 square-feet for a home improvement center and 105,000 square-feet for a fashion department store.
The company also lists 10 retail shops with sizes ranging from 8,100 to 23,600 square-feet for a total of 111,800 square-feet.
Seven outlot pads will range from 7,000 to 13,000 square-feet for a total of 55,000 square-feet. Almost 2,500 parking spaces will be provided for the total site.
Asked for comments about how the Cicero redevelopment compared to other JBC developments, Greg Merdinger, a principal at the company, said he had nothing to add.
The Sportsman’s Park site was purchased by the town in 2004 for approximately $16 million, according to Cicero spokesman Dan Proft. Sportsman’s opened in 1932 and was a well-known horse racing track.
Proft said JBC offered $28.3 million for the land and requested $25.6 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance from the town. He said this amount represented the highest offer for the land and the lowest amount of requested TIF assistance of the six developers who responded to the town’s Request for Proposals (RFP) on the development.
“It was a lengthy process but we did things the right way and we have a terrific company on board to do a development that will benefit Cicero residents for generations to come,” said Dominick after a July 24 town board meeting at which the agreement was approved.
“The John Buck Company has done some truly fantastic developments in and around Chicago and we’re excited to have them on board for this signature project in Cicero.”
Proft said the selection of JBC came after the town commissioned a land use study by the Chicago planning firm of Solomon, Cordwell and Buenz following a lengthy review of submittals from the six developers. That review included a financial analysis of the six proposals by the firm of Kane, McKenna, which is involved in municipal economic development financing.
Regarding previous efforts to redevelop the Sportsman’s Park site, Proft said, “I don’t know the details. They are no longer part of the landscape.”
Previous news reports had mentioned that other redevelopment attempts included lawsuits and allegations of corruption.