HUNTLEY – By now, Huntley residents may be fully aware of an Amazon receive center that will be occupying property on 41W368 Freeman Road. As completion for the receive center is anticipated for June 2022, it has begun conversations regarding the potential for other major businesses to take interest in coming to Huntley.
“I think we got a significant amount of interest and at this point, nothing is formal in terms of submittal. I would expect that Huntley will continue to see private sector investments in the community, but again nothing that far enough in the process where we can say ‘this is specifically what it’s going to be.’ After the Amazon announcement, there’s certainly been an uptick in development interest,” said Huntley village manager Dave Johnson.
However, as Illinois has now transitioned into the Bridge Phase of the Restore Illinois Plan, it has left residents wondering what that means for prior construction projects that were affected at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fate of one project in particular keeps coming up, and that is the Panera Bread Franchise. The franchise was slated to open on the southeast corner of Route 47 and Kreutzer Road in 2020, with no specific date given.
“Initial village staff interaction with Panera started in March of 2013. You know, at that point we shared the emails and presentations we’ve made. Panera clearly stated that they were committed and wanted to build in the village and they still as of early this year, still saying that they have no specific time frame that they’ve shared with us,” Johnson stated.
It appears that residents will just have to continue to wait for Huntley’s Panera Bread franchise that will hopefully make its debut sometime in 2021.
Johnson also gave some updates into the land development happening near the Powers Road and Regency Parkway area.
“So, a number of years ago, probably two or three years ago, the land owner came in and final plotted and received approval to create additional outlet spots there. South of Regency between Regency and Powers. We are at this point, unaware of any specific users, but I would anticipate the fact that they’re spending money to do that would mean that they have potential interest in those lots,” he said.
Since last year, there has been continuous work to complete the construction of a four-story, 100-room Hampton Inn. The project, which was proposed by developer Woodstock Hotels, Inc. and operated by Hetan Patel, will occupy Lot 2 of Huntley Crossings corporate park, just east of Route 47 and south of Powers Road. The hotel will occupy about 3.7 acres of the 11.3acre lot.
Based on the Business Development Agreement between the village and Woodstock Hotels, Inc., the Hampton Inn is expected to be in operation by Dec.
31, 2021. According to deputy village manager Lisa Armour, it seems that opening date is still anticipated.
“At this time, the hotel is hoping to be complete by the end of the year,” she said in an email correspondence.
Johnson stated that Huntley’s development interest is more than the village has seen in a long time, also commenting how there have been further discussions into bringing another large development project to the area.
“I will tell you that we’re in discussions with a developer for another large project that I would put in the category of Amazon in terms of its size. We don’t know who the user is, but the project [is] even bigger in square footage. Again, [it’s] preliminary discussions,” he said.
Additionally, Johnson said that the village has seen some interest in property that has sat on the market for a long time.
“For example, next to Weber there’s now a contract on some of those lots. We also know that the former outlet mall property will likely be in front of the Village Board for final approval to review the business park that’s been proposed there or the warehouse distribution buildings that have been proposed there,” Johnson said. “So, we anticipate seeing some activity on that side this year.”
Huntley has gotten some residential growth as well, with the Talamore subdivision currently undergoing some expansion, adding a new phase of homes by the developer Lennar. The Cider Grove subdivision may also be seeing an expansion of its own.
“Cider Grove will likely be in front of the Village Board in early June,” Johnson said.
As of current, the Plan Commission reviewed a petition by MTM Property Group LLC, the owners of Lot 7 of Kishwaukee Center Lot 3 Resubdivision located on the northeast corner of Smith Drive and Smith Court, for the construction of a 6,000 square foot industrial building.
The Plan Commission approved the petition at the May 10 Plan Commission meeting.
Other than that, the village has a large array of capital street improvement projects for 2021. Those project updates can all be viewed on the Village of Huntley’s website under the Public Works and Engineering department page.
