Orland Park officials are studying marketing strategies for more than 500 acres along Interstate Highway 80 that they say are ideal for development as the next Chicago-area high-tech corridor.
The village has long promoted the area for high-tech, research, office and hotel development and already has boosted the marketability of the vacant land with its plans to pay upfront for extension of water, sewers and roads. The village also negotiated approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation for a new interchange at 183rd Street and La Grange Road.
Mayor Dan McLaughlin said marketing plans and strict zoning will be helpful in controlling the development, but he acknowledged that “we know it’s going to take a long time to get going.”
Among the new plans to be reviewed by the Village Board is one to meet with the property owners to establish specific land prices and land uses, village Economic Development Director Maureen Wright said.
McLaughlin said he favors meeting with the land owners, but, “It’s not our position to set land prices.”
But Trustees Brad O’Halloran, Bernard Murphy and James Dodge said a discussion of land value would be helpful to the village in its marketing approach. The proximity to Chicago, lower Will County taxes and high-tech-friendly amenities such as infrastructure and no telecommunications tax would also be promoted, according to the proposed marketing plan.
The I-80 corridor consists of 15 parcels between 179th Street and I-80, from La Grange to Wolf Roads, Wright said.
Plans include establishing a high-tech incubator, a speculative building with lower rents that would attract start-up businesses, Wright said. The village may also work with companies to plan high-tech infrastructure, she said.
Marketing efforts will include talks with master planners, communications companies, software manufacturers, biomedical companies, research facilities, colleges and other businesses in the information technology area.
“If we want high tech, then we have to identify it and say we won’t accept less,” Wright said.
The village already has turned away development proposals that don’t fit its vision for the I-80 corridor, McLaughlin said. Recent proposals for a car dealership, which later opened in neighboring Tinley Park, and a mini-warehouse were steered away.
Murphy agreed that continued marketing is in the best interest of the village, but he wasn’t sure how much more work the village ought to dedicate to the area’s development.
