HUNTLEY – IL – Huntley’s village board hasn’t made a final decision yet on the future use of the former outlet mall site, but they made an important one in the meantime.
They want mixed commercial uses on the remaining 60 acres, not industrial ones.
By a 4-2 vote on April 18, the village board rejected a proposal to redevelop the former Huntley Outlet Center property into a business park. The park would have contained three industrial warehouse buildings. The decision ended more than a year of discussions between a group of owners of the former mall land and village officials.
“We put a good land use plan together in 2017 and we are sticking to it,” said Harry Leopold, a Sun City resident who was one of four village trustees that voted to reject the industrial plan. In 2017, the board amended its comprehensive land use plan by identifying future mixed commercial uses surrounding a Gateway with the I-90 tollway-IL47 interchange at its core.
Trustees Ronda Goldman, Niko Kanakaris, and John Piwko joined Leopold in the rejection vote. Trustees Timothy Hoeft and J.R. Westberg supported the industrial proposal. Village President Charles Sass did not vote but spoke in favor of a hotel or restaurants on the site.
The village’s plan commission, an advisory body, supported the industrial plan by a 4-3 vote earlier.
So what now?
“We wait,” Leopold said. “We remain patient and wait to see what proposals commercial developers submit to us that fit into our Gateway plan. There is no hurry, the mall shut down three years ago and now the land is vacant. We’ve done all we can to prepare this site for a future development. There’s about 60 acres out there waiting for some proposals involving mixed commercial uses.”
The late outlet center was built more than 20 years ago by the Prime Group at a time when Prime was actively pursuing commercial expansion in the Huntley area and Del Webb had arrived in Huntley to make plans for Sun City. Several years of planning in the last decade led to the development of a commercial gateway built around all sides of the new I-90/IL-47 interchange. The mall property itself is located immediately east of the interchange, along the north side of the interstate highway.
The Gateway Plan was approved by the village board in 2017 and is now a part of the village’s comprehensive land use plan. Here’s what plan documents say about this concept: “The area just northeast of the I-90 interchange contains development-ready sites and vacant buildings surrounding auto-oriented commercial uses, includes auto and RV dealerships, and the vacant outlet mall. Opportunity sites for mixed commercial development include the auto mall and (about 60 acres) of vacant outlet mall property. These areas should be targeted for a mix of commercial development that serve as a regional draw, such as general retailers, sporting goods stores, restaurants, and service uses.”
The village has been marketing the village for a possible hotel in recent years, without success. But Leopold told the Sun Day an interesting story about one recent related event.
“A hotel developer expressed interest in the mall site or adjacent areas a few years ago, but then backed away when he discovered the presence of three hotels near the intersection of Randall Road and I-90 five miles to the east,” he said. “The developer told us our site is too close to those on Randall, and a hotel won’t work in Huntley. We still feel, however, that other mixed commercial uses will work in the interchange gateway area.”
Charles Nordman, director of development services for the village, said, “The Prime Group was proposing a significant change to the former mall site right after the village developed a gateway plan for this area. But a majority of village officials believe mixed commercial is the highest and best use of this land. The board worked hard to update our comprehensive plan and get this gateway plan going. They are not going to abandon this effort now.”
The majority group of trustees reportedly also rejected the industrial plan because it wasn’t the “highest and best use” of the site, wouldn’t generate sales tax revenues, and would result in expanded truck traffic and vehicle congestion in the area.
Trustee John Piwko said his rejection vote was based on what he perceives village residents want for this former mall site. “If this industrial plan is approved, the board will not have listened to what the residents want to see built on this property,” he said in another published report last week. Their views have appeared in social media, he added.
General RV, whose recreational vehicle sales and service operation is one of the largest ones in northern Illinois, has bought 14 acres of the former mall property from the owners since the mall closed, leaving about 60 acres vacant.
Leopold reminded the Sun Day about the bottom line in this subject — “The village is not the initiator of proposals for this land, developers are. It’s a waiting game that requires patience.”
