Restaurants and other businesses are flocking to downtown Glenview in the wake of COVID-19 allowing the Village to move closer to its goal of being a prime destination for diners and shoppers, officials said.
Indeed the Village is actively recruiting businesses to its downtown and in the next few months it could contract with an economic development firm to continue to woo new businesses to the north suburb.
“A lot of things are happening in the downtown,” Jeff Brady, Director of Community Development in Glenview told the Village Board at its Feb. 20 meeting. “Things are happening all over.”
He said that since the completion of the Glenview Connect process, which garnered residents’ input on what they want to see happening in the downtown, and the development of an updated downtown Strategic Plan, the Village Board has continuously taken steps to spur downtown development. He also said that during the Glenview Connect process, “the community was loud and clear in what they wanted to see in the downtown area” including a greater variety of shops, high-end restaurants, and special events.
“It’s very speculative,” Brady said of the redevelopment process. “There could be 10 different groups that are looking at the same site and who knows what’s going to happen at any moment because ultimately you have to have two parties that agree. One to buy and one to sell.”
But he said the village has identified several downtown “Spark Sites” including a section of the 1800 block of Glenview Road, and that multiple restaurants have expressed interest in opening there, and that one property has 3 available tenant spaces for sale.
“Any of the interests that are happening we are sending them to the property owner as they are considering what they might do with the sale of that property,” said Brady.
He said other Spark sites include the north section of the 1700 block of Glenview Avenue and that the current owners are evaluating potential redevelopment opportunities for the sale of the property.
“It could include redevelopment that might be something like a three-story mixed-use development or an outright sale or a sale to a developer that might look to rehab the existing spaces and to spruce up what is called ‘Shopper Row’ and lease those spaces out,” he explained.
The Village has also been focusing on the south end of the 1700 block of Glenview Avenue, he said.
“Over the past year and a half the Village has been coming through with recommendations and approvals for redevelopment in this area and that includes the significant expansion of the existing downtown parking lot in that area adjacent to the Oil Lamp Theater,” said Brady.
In the nearby “Chase Bank block” the village has negotiated a purchase and sale agreement with the property owners for the Patio Shop and that sale is expected to close in March, Brady added.
“There’s been numerous conversations with Chase Bank to understand how it might go through a potential redevelopment of that site,” he said.
The owners of Middy Mags Pizzeria are looking at downtown spaces, construction on a mixed-use development at 1850 Glenview Road with 65 apartments and 5,200 square feet of retail is expected to begin this summer and the owners of the Glenview House are reviewing restaurant opportunities as are the owners of 1320 Waukegan Road, formerly the site of the Rami Thai restaurant, Brady said.
He also said that new signage, hanging flower baskets, decorative lighting and wayfinding signage will probably be in place this summer.
“The concept there is that you’ll wrap each of the street light poles with decorative lighting so it adds extra interest,” he explained. “It is different from the holiday lighting that would go on in the Winter.”
Trustee Tim Doron credited Brady and his staff with doing the “heavy lifting” required in the redevelopment process.
“We can’t have ‘Las Vegas Boulevard’ with just restaurant, restaurant, restaurant,” he said. “There’s got to be other things down there whether they’re fashion or other things. That’s so important.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
