Huntley’s former outlet mall property is very slowly coming back to life. But much planning and negotiations remain to be done.
Both the village and area developers have been talking together for the past year about the future of the now-vacant property. They agree on the need to redevelop it into something financially and commercially viable. But there are varying opinions between the property owners and village officials regarding exactly what to do.
In 2016, after several years of turmoil among owners of the Huntley property, three organizations purchased the 76-acre site of a once-prominent factory outlet center. The three are The Prime Group, which built the outlet center in the 1980s; Elgin’s Capital Companies LLC; and the Craig Realty Group, a California-based firm that develops upscale factory outlet centers.
At an August 22 Huntley village board meeting, the owners proposed a plan that envisions that the future of the site lies in office/research, industrial-light manufacturing and warehouse distribution. This is similar to what is being done in Huntley’s I-90 corridor, especially by Weber Grills, which completed a huge new distribution center next to the outlet mall site two years ago.
Above is a proposed site plan for the former outlet mall, which is under consideration for being rezoned as an office building or for industrial uses, featured in this map. (Photo provided)
The village, in contrast, has included the mall property in its I-90/IL 47 Gateway Plan, which was approved in late 2017. It sees the site as a mixed commercial area, with a mix of commercial development uses, such as general retailers, sporting goods stores, restaurants, and service uses. Prior to the adoption of the Gateway Plan, the village’s Comprehensive Plan designated the future land use as Retail and Service Commercial. This reflects land uses in plans dating back to the mid-1990s.
One the table right now is a proposal from the owners that requests rezoning the easternmost 31.5 acres on the site to ORI (Office/Research/Industrial) that envisions light manufacturing uses, with a special use to allow Distribution. This property would be subdivided into two lots and developing two office-warehouse-distribution buildings of 245,000 square feet each. The 17.6-acre site to the west would remain regional retail for now and is not included in the owner’s redevelopments plans.
The proposal would provide parking for 517 vehicles and 94 truck trailer parking spaces with the potential to add an additional 80 truck spaces in the future.
The remaining land would accommodate about 16 acres of storm water detention (near Freeman Road). A private roadway would provide joint access to the two zoned properties.
Charles Nordman, the village’s director of development services, said the August 22 village board meeting included an informal review of the proposal by trustees.
“Some of the trustees expressed some concern about the industrial, distribution and warehouse ideas for this site and expressed a preference for office buildings,” he said. “But this was just a preliminary meeting, and the formal process of plan commission review will begin some time in the next few weeks,” he added. “Proposals will require a formal public hearing before the plan commission followed by consideration by the village board.”
