Like a huge plane, the former Glenview Naval Air Station is poised at the end of the runway, about to take off on a course to total redevelopment.
How will the journey unfold, and will it reach the anticipated heights?
Many real estate experts already are giving high marks to the Village of Glenview for its vision of transforming the 1,120-acre military airfield into a civilian enclave with something for everyone–a park with a lake, a golf course, sports and entertainment areas, homes, stores and a business park.
But some observers are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“The scary thing about large-scale projects like this is the gap between what is planned and what ultimately is done. The devil is in the details,” said Zalman Alper of Alper & Alper Inc. Architects, a Chicago-based consultant for the Society of the Divine Word, owner of the 800-acre Techny property in Northbrook, just north of the air station.
Allen Kracower, a Buffalo Grove-based land planner, agrees that the trick is executing the plan: “What will be the character of the whole development? Will it have a unified look? With different parts being built by different developers, will it be disjointed? What will the architecture be like?”
The odds for favorable answers to these questions are high, Kracower contends, because “Glenview has a very stringent review process.”
He likes the 400 acres of open space in the plan, including the 90-acre park with a 54-acre lake and the 135-acre golf course.
Kracower suggested, however, that even more of the airfield might have been left open: “Conservationists might say that it should be one huge regional park. Since taxpayers originally paid for the land, it should revert to them and remain as perpetual open space.”
However, he was pleasantly surprised at what Glenview is proposing.
“No private developer would have devoted so much open space for public use,” he said.
“Before I saw the plan, I thought it would be filled with housing. With this much land available, there is a tendency to load up on residential density,” said Kracower, who devised the land plan for Gregg’s Landing, a new 1,100-acre residential development with 48 percent open space in Vernon Hills.
Another real estate expert thinks success is almost assured by Glenview’s location in the affluent north suburbs.
“This area has exceptional demographics. It’s one of the best markets in the country, with a very positive income level,” said Robert Reaumond, first vice president with CB Commercial Real Estate Group.
However, he believes that some parts of the Glenview plan will do better than others.
“The residential (component) will be very strong,” he predicted.
The plan calls for a total of 900 new residential units, with low-density single-family homes on 208 acres. Only 18 acres have been reserved for multifamily housing, but that could be expanded in the final plan.
As for the 152 acres set aside for light industrial/office use, Reaumond is less enthusiastic: “There are access problems. Willow Road (running east-west at the north end of the base) is only two lanes through Northfield from the Edens Expressway.
“I don’t see this as a big spot for speculative office construction, but more as a build-to-suit location. Many companies still favor Lake County because Cook County real estate taxes are double or more. That’s a negative factor.”
On the other hand, “the current office market is extremely robust because businesses are expanding and there is not much new construction,” Reaumond said.
The strength of the market will have a lot to do with future commercial development both south and north of Willow Road, according to Alper. He added that the new Metra station could help office development.
As a consultant for the nearby Techny property, which has vacant land available for a variety of uses, Alper commented: “I wish Glenview well; a successful redevelopment of the naval air station is in the best interests of Techny.
“The redevelopment definitely will change the character of the area,” said Alper.
When completed, it is projected to increase the village’s population (now 39,000) by 3,100 residents, and add 5,600 new jobs.
In a ceremony last week, the Navy officially transferred–at no charge–545 acres of the base to Glenview. The remainder will follow after the Navy completes an environmental cleanup, probably by next summer.
In the village’s new role as real estate developer, it has not been going it alone. Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. was hired as development adviser, and the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will complete the master plan and establish design guidelines.
Glenview estimates the redevelopment will have a value of $750 million when it is completed in 10 to 15 years, and will boost the village’s tax base by 35 percent.
“It would have been nice to divvy up the pie,” said Thomas Poupard, director of planning for neighboring Northbrook, perhaps only partly in jest. “We feel comfortable that the view of Glenview is similar to what we would have done, though we would have approached the redevelopment somewhat differently.”
Poupard applauded Glenview for “not loading up the land with housing that would impact the schools.”
“Glenview’s goal was not to burden the infrastructure, so there was a minimal allocation for residential,” commented Tracy Cross, president of the Schaumburg-based real estate research firm bearing his name.
Cross described the housing market in the Glenview area as “very hot,” with new subdivisions–Heatherfield, Glenview Place, Royal Ridge and Stonegate in Northbrook–all doing well. “Glenview is a very desirable location, with excellent schools and community reputation.”
But new housing on the former base will not be cheap.
“These will not be starter homes or even for second-time buyers,” said Thompson Dyke, a Northbrook-based land planner. “But there’s a market there for expensive homes.”
“On the North Shore, a `reasonable’ price means under $500,000,” according to Cross.
Donald Owen, Glenview’s economic redevelopment director, expects the townhouses to average in the $300,000s, while the single-family homes will range from $450,000 to the high $600,000s, with a few near the golf course hitting $1 million.
The planned expansion of the existing Navy golf course, now operated by the Glenview Park District, will allow more homes to be built around the 18-hole course.
Construction of the first residences should begin next summer or fall, according to Matthew Carlson, assistant village manager.
“We expect the homes will mirror existing architecture in Glenview, which is very traditional with a lot of brick,” he said.
Though most of the residences will be upscale, reflecting the cost of the land, a possible housing component for seniors is being considered, according to Carlson.
But before the first homes are built the land must be prepared with infrastructure improvements, including the demolition of the 300 acres of runways. This formidable job, set to begin next month, will require the removal of 500,000 cubic yards of concrete.
The 5,000-foot east-west runway and the 8,000-foot north-south runway are one to two feet thick. Part of the concrete will be recycled at the site to create a rolling terrain on the currently flat landscape.
The village estimates that infrastructure and demolition costs will hit $100 million. Land sales will help to cover this expenditure.
“The goal is for the project to pay for itself,” said Owen.
Three other major improvements also are getting under way: Site preparation already has begun for the new Metra station at the east side of the base. Groundbreaking for the lake is expected next month. Paving of the north-south and east-west roads may have to wait until next spring.
In the meantime, the master plan is being fine-tuned, and the first contracts for Phase 1 are expected to be awarded next month.
The existence of a nine-story-high “Mount Trashmore” on a former landfill at the northeast corner of the air station should have no effect on the redevelopment, according to Marvin Romanek, president of Romanek Properties, which is developing Royal Ridge, a 151-unit residential project on the Techny property in Northbrook.
“The landfill is a non-event now,” said Romanek. But when the dump was first proposed in the ’60s, the Navy was concerned that garbage might attract birds that could be sucked into jet engines.
Now, with the landfill closed, a Scottish-style golf course has been built on top of it.
“The views from up there are breathtaking,” said Romanek.
His one regret about the base closing is that he will miss the air shows that were staged there each summer.
A shopping center of about 40 acres, part of the 80 acres set aside for retail, will be located near the new residences at the south end of the base on Lake Avenue.
A retail specialist, Steve Livaditis, believes this center will be developed with small convenience stores rather than large-scale retailers.
“It would be risky to overbuild at this location because the residential density will not support larger stores. Anyway, Glenview has never been a big-box town,” said Livaditis, senior director with Cushman & Wakefield.
Still up in the air is the fate of Hangar One, a landmark at the airfield since 1929.
Expanded during World War II, the 185,000-square-foot facility is capped by a distinctive control tower. Now in mothball status, the hangar could be sold and converted for retail, restaurant, office or sports uses.
Local support favors using part of it for an aviation museum. But if no buyer is found, it could be included on the list of 100 structures slated for demolition.
The recent discovery of a 13-acre patch of Illinois prairie in the middle of the proposed business park has village officials in a quandary.
“We haven’t decided yet, but we may incorporate it into the master plan,” said Carlson.
Donald Hey, president of Chicago-based Hey & Associates, an environmental consulting firm, believes the oasis of native grasses and wildflowers could be transplanted to another part of the base.
“Most likely it could be moved, but you would have to be careful about the hydrological setting with the right mix of ground water and surface water,” he said.
