The Plan Commission on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve conversion of the former Aurora Equipment Co. building into a business and industrial park.
Shetland Properties of Chicago, which operates the 1.3 million-square-foot SunGate Park on Chicago’s West Side, bought the building last year for $1.5 million. It wants to convert the structure into a park for light industrial use and plans to invest up to $4 million, said Shetland President Andrew Lappin.
Equipto, as the Aurora Equipment steel shelving and industrial storage manufacturer is called, left the 491,000-square-foot building in 1993 during a nationwide consolidation, leading to the loss of 95 jobs.
Residential neighbors of the Equipto building, 225 S. Highland Ave., expressed concerns about truck traffic from loading docks along Kensington Place, a residential street across from the factory. Holy Angels School is one block east of the factory on Kensington.
As a result, Shetland agreed to build a separate access road to the loading docks and to erect a 100-foot-long, 12-foot-high fence to shield the neighbors from noise, city officials said. One or two trucks are expected to use each of up to 26 docks daily, Lappin said.
“We made an extensive accommodation, and I hope we will co-exist peacefully until time immemorial,” Lappin said. “I’ve always worked to get along with my neighbors, (and) I hope they will return the commitment to me.”
The plan now goes to the City Council Planning and Development Committee on Sept. 11 for a recommendation. Shetland is seeking a special-use permit to rehabilitate the building, which does not conform with current city zoning standards.
