Palatine may be 125 years old, but the downtown of one of the biggest villages in the northwest suburbs still has a lot of growing up to do.
For all of Palatine’s size, including its nearly 50,000 residents and the retail boom along several main highways, the community’s center hasn’t lived up to its potential as an economic engine, officials acknowledge.
But now they hope to change that by adding Palatine to the list of established suburbs with dramatic plans to spruce up moribund downtowns.
The new downtown Palatine is envisioned as a mix of Arlington Heights, where the bustle of the central business district is fueled by residents who live in high-rises, and Long Grove, with its quaint shops, carriage rides and tourists.
The most recent step toward remaking Palatine came this month when a condominium project opened southeast of downtown. It’s the first of what village officials hope will be two multifamily residential developments that will stand as bookends to a revitalized business district.
Meanwhile, a smattering of small niche shops selling crafts, stamps, gifts and antiques already is cultivating a boutique image.
Village officials recently bought some open land and made it into a public park, and they hope to move Palatine’s commuter train station from an out-of-the-way strip mall to a more visible site with room for more shops catering to the 2,000 commuters who use the stop daily.
“The park and the new location for the train station will be turning points for the downtown,” said Martha Bell, chairwoman of the Palatine Downtown Redevelopment Commission. “We hope all of this will be a catalyst for change in the area.”
When the station was moved out of downtown Palatine in 1975 to provide more commuter parking, it became part of a commuter shopping center that was designed to generate business just west of the original downtown.
“But the stores didn’t cater to the commuters,” said Richard Kozdras, Palatine’s economic development officer. “The businesses gradually filtered out.”
The current train station “is very inconspicuous and doesn’t meet the needs of our residents,” said Michael Cassady, Palatine’s assistant village manager. “Our hope is that the new station will be a landmark for the village and will spark continued interest in revitalizing the downtown.”
In the 1970s, two fires destroyed several stores. In addition, the post office, the library, the train station, the high school and the village hall moved out of the area, leaving downtown Palatine with little to attract visitors.
By the early 1990s, the downtown was so unfocused and lackluster that the Palatine Downtown Redevelopment Commission set as its first task to pinpoint “an identifiable center of downtown.”
It’s not that Palatine was dealt the bad hands given to geographically challenged suburbs without the major roads or commuter rail lines that can serve as the starting point for a downtown.
Metra’s Union Pacific trains run through Palatine; but Palatine’s train station isn’t visible from any busy street and doesn’t play a role in promoting downtown business.
The train station might have stayed put had Metra not been under the gun to make it accessible to wheelchairs to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Palatine officials persuaded Metra to build a new station rather than remodel the old one. If agreements can be reached with state officials on the timing of crossing signals and gates, the new station will be constructed about 100 feet east of the current one. Financing will come from Metra, which has a $2.5 million federal grant, and Palatine, which will add $100,000. Construction could begin in 1998 and finish by 1999.
