HUNTLEY – In Huntley these days, letters of interest apparently work better than requests for proposals when it comes to business development.
Ever since the village administration began its downtown revitalization effort in 2017, officials decided that the century-old Catty building just south of the town square should be a part of it. For two years, village officials advertised, promoted, and tried to persuade the business development industry of this fact. The village bought the Catty property at 11117 Church Street in 2017 for $425,000. Marketing of the property initially went nowhere, partly because the village wasnāt sure it wanted the historical building torn down. Many potential developers balked at this policy. Some developers proposed demolition, while some wanted to raze part of the structure. At one point, the village proposed a residential development on the Catty property.
Things appeared to come to a standstill this past summer.
After allowing staff members to issue requests for proposals, a break came last August. The village decided to seek letters of interest from prospective developers, and Voila!, several responses were received. The village picked one and now is talking with Landmark 11117 LLC as a potential investor. The unusual proposal, if eventually accepted and implemented, could turn the quiet neighborhood between the former Deanās Foods site and Main Street into a unique mini-shopping center.
Because of the holiday season and schedules, the Sun Day was unable to contact anyone at the village for comment. Landmark has proposed seven different uses of the property, while leaving its exterior intact. Included in the expansive proposal are 12,200 square feet for industrial event space, about 4,500 square feet for boutique lodging, 3,200 square feet to be used as a cocktail bar, 1,630 square feet for a food and beverage tenant, 3,320 square feet for business incubation, 2,600 square feet for civic flex space, and 3,000 square feet to be used as corporate office headquarters. There is no word yet on the villageās reaction to all this.
Spicing all of this up is the continuing possibility that the Catty site has a tie-in with a long-time and currently dormant proposal for a passenger railroad proposal that could bring Amtrak through the village.
Illinois Rebuild Capital Plan, proposed by the state earlier this year, reportedly includes the construction of a railway station on and near the Catty site as part of establishing rail service between Chicago and Rockford. The village has planned for five years to develop rail services along the current freight line running through Huntley, and former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn proposed a $223 million plan to restart Amtrak rail services between Rockford and Chicago. But after the election of Gov. Bruce Rauner, mass transit plans fell through.
Early next year, the Sun Day will update readers with further developments between Landmark 11117 and the village.
Jake Marino, village historian and a member of the Huntley Historical Society board of directors, has written an interesting history of the Catty structure. The date of its initial construction is not known, according to Marino. It is believed to have been built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. A fire crippled one of the early tenants in 1907. Some say the Hezelās milk factory operated there in 1905, but little is known of its early years.
In the 20th century, it has been the site of a milk factory by Cornell, and a dairy operation by John F. Jelke company, In the Jelke years, large additions were added to the north and south ends of the building. Then, Jelke moved out and the building stood empty for a few years.
In the 1930s, after prohibition was repealed, the property developed a somewhat shady history, according to Marino. George Druggan turned the building into a brewery. Druggan was part of the once famous Druggan-Lake clan. One sidelight story, according to Marino, is that the Druggan gang got involved in a fight in nearby Fox Lake in 1930. Members of the Bugs Moran gang from Chicago opened fire on members of Drugganās and Al Caponeās gangs. Three people were killed and George Druggan was severely injured.
Druggan reportedly recovered and operated the Huntley Brewing Company for a few years in the Catty building, Harry Weltzien operated an implement business there in the late 1930s. In World War II years, William Fencil Gasket Co. produced gaskets for the public and fuses for the American military. From the 1940s, the HD Catty Co. produced aluminum foil and blister packs for food packaging. Eventually, in 2006, the expanding Catty operation was moved to Harvard.
The building currently stands empty…again. What will history do now with a unique āshopping centerā proposal in the 21st century?
