Developer Nick Pannos returned to the Winfield Plan Commission with revised plans for Winfield Marketplace.
“After we took the first run of it, we went back to the drawing board,” Pannos said on Thursday.
Pannos spoke of one of the main issues, the proposed building of storage units next to Jerry Ross Elementary School.
“We are here to address some of your concerns,” Pannos said.
Last month Pannos and architect Thomas J. Vavrek unveiled plans for Winfield Marketplace, a 16-acre property to be located at the corner of Randolph Street and East 117th Avenue, adjacent and west of Lakes of the Four Seasons.
No action on the proposal was taken by the Plan Commission at last month’s meeting or at Thursday’s meeting.
Vavrek, principal and owner of Vavrek Architects in Whiting, said Winfield Marketplace would be a place where people would gather, take photos and make memories.
The proposed plans include five restaurants with patios, an outdoor courtyard, a car wash, and retail offices on the southernmost portion of the property.
One of the proposed tenants would be the 18th Street Brewery, the second largest brewery in Northwest Indiana, according to Pannos.
Plans for the north section of the property, located just south of Jerry Ross Elementary, include some 248 storage units and office buildings.
Plans also include a pedestrian walkway around the property.
Some of the concerns were voiced last month by Plan Commission member David Anderson, who also serves on the Town Council.
He voiced those concerns again on Thursday.
“I’m not a fan of storage units,” Anderson said.
Pannos said building on the north side of the property proves challenging but the units would be built low architecturally and would include trees around it so as not to disturb the school next to it.
“We tried our best to hide and screen,” he said
Anderson said he would be in favor of the storage units if it was possible to reduce the number and limit the hours to a closing of 10 p.m.
Plan Commission member Tim Clayton, who also serves on the Town Council, said he likes the concept overall and understands, given the topography of the property to the north, that storage units are all that the developers can build there.
In other business, the Plan Commission:
— Approved secondary plat approval for phase 2, 45 residential lots, of Grand Ridge subdivision at 10317 Grand Boulevard.
— Gave the go-ahead to representatives of AutoZone, located at the intersection of 109th Avenue and Pike Street, to open their business on March 22 despite the absence of a traffic light at the intersection.
The town wanted a permanent traffic light installed there and made it a condition of any business opening in Winfield Commons, a 21-acre, six-lot retail subdivision, located to the south and west of Walgreens.
Town officials last fall approved the opening of Wendy’s, with certain traffic conditions that will remain in place until a traffic light is in place sometime this spring.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
