For a working-class kid growing up in Des Plaines, the 15-minute drive to Arlington Heights for dinner on special occasions was like migrating to a different world. Everyone seemed a little blonder there–all the kids had straight teeth; the moms skied and played tennis; the dads, smartly decked out in crisply pressed suits, jumped aboard the commuter trains each morning.
Twenty-five years passed–the last 10 of which I’ve spent as a resident of Arlington Heights. Childhood awe for the “village of good neighbors” faded into a more realistic appraisal of the joys and problems of suburbia, along with a quiet sense of community pride.
Nonetheless, as I recently witnessed a wrecking ball bring down a venerable Arlington Heights ski shop, I couldn’t help but imagine a granite tombstone rising through the rubble. The epitaph: “R.I.P. Our Town.”
Bulldozers have been raising tempers and kicking up dust at the site of a monster project for the suburb–the 13-story Arlington Town Square development, west of Arlington Heights Road and north of Sigwalt Street.
By next Christmas, the $45 million project, featuring 100 condominiums, 25 shops and restaurants and a six-screen movie theater, will have transformed the sleepy downtown into a bustling mini-Evanston.
A second project has received preliminary approval–the $69 million Village Green retail and residential development proposed for Vail Street between Wing and Campbell Streets.
All this hasn’t come about without a fight. The transformation of the downtown area has been most loudly opposed by the Shadow Project, a citizens group whose moniker reflects the conviction that high-density developments will cast long shadows–literally and figuratively–on the village’s tranquil character.
In August, the Shadow Project’s 100 or so members stormed Village Hall carrying a petition with 6,290 residents’ signatures, demanding a referendum measure on the Town Square project.
The Village Board voted against placing the issue on the Nov. 4 ballot. The Shadow Group then sued the village, alleging it had closed Davis Street for the Town Square project without approval from a two-thirds board majority.
Not so, countered Village Atty. Jack M. Siegel, who moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that the board had secured the proper majority.
The village’s downtown already has four smaller residential/retail developments. In the eyes of many residents, that’s plenty. Some objected to the Davis Street closure. Others contended that the brick and mortar giant would lure unmanageable crowds, traffic and noise to the 13-square-block area.
Leaders such as Mayor Arlene Mulder seem to understand the preservationists’ concerns, but the prospect of legions of shoppers descending on downtown stores has proved hard to resist.
Project advocates argue that without a transfusion of fresh retail-residential blood, the village’s warm heart could wither.
When the issue finally came to a vote last month, the preservationists lost big time. The Village Board embraced economic development over neighborhood nostalgia, casting an eye to about $1 million in tax revenue that Arlington Town Square is expected to generate the first year alone.
As a national phenomenon, suburbs are evolving after decades of hibernation. Arlington Heights is prosperous enough to avoid the blight that came with the aging of inner-ring suburbs such as Cicero, Harvey and Worth. But with 77,000 residents, it long ago became more than a sleepy bedroom community.
If the towns that hug the Union Pacific Railroad’s Northwest line were members of a family, Arlington Heights would be the successful big brother.
But if the suburb appears to have dealt with the ravages of time more gracefully than some of its siblings to the east and west, a few wrinkles are starting to show.
Arlington International Racecourse, the 70-year-old landmark, will be shuttered through 1998 and possibly forever. But planners hope the loss of village revenue– roughly $1.4 million–will be recouped through new tax dollars pouring in from hundreds of luxury condos as well as an array of upscale retail chains.
In the meantime, dozens of strip malls in the village are decimated by vacancies. And despite a downtown revitalization program that has created two parking garages, improved many streets and sidewalks and provided funding to merchants to spruce up their facades, new tenants have failed to rush forth.
Longtime resident James Lambert and fellow Shadow Project members agree that economic development cannot be ignored. But the preservationists fear that mega-developments will obliterate the rustic charm of the downtown’s family-owned shops, restaurants and Victorian homes.
To be sure, the viewpoint is held mostly by a vocal minority of residents who live in the historic neighborhood adjacent to the central business district.
Although those opponents may shun the shops and bistros when they are unveiled next year,
others–including this resident– may swallow their nostalgia long enough to visit Victoria’s Secret or check out the latest art film just a few blocks from home.
There will be Christmas shopping next year at stores such as the Gap, without frenetic scenes at suburban malls. Dining al fresco at one of the restaurants sounds like a perfect way to end a hectic summer week.
Still, the tradeoff with any facelift is that cosmetic improvements may erase character. The old Arlington Heights is gone, like my childhood. Here’s hoping the new one will provide memories worth the making.
