Grover Elmore, an enterprising Tinley Park home builder in the ’20s and ’30s, offered more than cozy homes with “three coats of plaster” and “electric refrigerators,” according to his advertisements. He also included 20-by-40-foot chicken coops on concrete slabs, chicken-raising instructions and 1,000 American White Leghorn baby chicks. (So deluxe were these outbuildings that many were later remodeled into apartments or garages.)
“The husband of the family moving onto an Elmore Poultry Farm usually keeps his regular job in Chicago,” said Elmore’s ad. “Frequently the wife is willing to help swell the family income and agrees to take care of the poultry.”
Seventy years later, builders are more likely to use whirlpool tubs than chickens to lure buyers, and women are more likely to join the daily commute to work than stay home and feed chickens. But Tinley Park and its neighbor, Orland Park, are still attracting families by the hundreds to neighborhoods-in-the-making.
Although their population increases are large enough to indicate that these villages are drawing plenty of out-of-towners, builders here report that a large percentage of their buyers are townies or from other southwest suburbs. That differs from many of McHenry and Kane Counties’ growing burbs, where developers are drawing people from built-up towns closer to Chicago.
Tinley Park’s population has surged since 1980, from 26,171 to more than 46,000. Ditto for Orland Park, where the head count rose from 23,045 in 1980 to nearly 50,000.
Over the last 20 years, Tinley Park’s residential building permits seesawed with the economy, hitting a low of 117 in 1982, but increased steadily through the ’90s to 700 in 1999. Orland Park has been issuing permits at a similar pace, reaching a 1999 total of 630.
“We thought this would be a three-year project, but it sold in two years,” said John Morrissey, vice president of William Morrissey & Sons Construction Inc. in Orland Park, which is building the 31-home Farmview Estates on the former Brandau family farm in Tinley Park. “I have three lots left, and I only ran one ad one day. It’s been through word of mouth through buyers from the area.”
The Morrissey homes are typical of the new-home offerings, ranging in base price from $249,000 to $262,900 for ranch or two-story models. They’re selling to growing families, plus some empty-nesters, who want lots of space for their money. In this subdivision, that’s 2,200 to 2,700 square feet, without upgrades.
One of the larger developments in this price range is the 800-acre Brookside Glen in Tinley Park, a joint venture by Malone and Moloney Inc. and Cranna Homes Inc., both based in Tinley Park. Completed, it will include 1,200 single-family homes (two-story and ranch) and 527 town homes on three former family farms, belonging to the Been, Bettenhausen and Warner families. The single-family homes have base prices of $235,000 to $257,000, while the town homes range from $170,000 to $180,000.
“We’re attracting a mix of move-up young and growing families in the single-family homes,” reported Eamon Malone, president of Malone and Moloney. “For the town homes, empty-nesters and young professionals. Ninety percent are local, from surrounding suburbs. They’re staying here because it’s close to the train, expressways and shopping, and there are excellent schools.” Brookside Glen includes designated open space, parkland and a 5-mile walking trail.
Although single-family buyers are lured by Brookside’s mid-$200,000 price tags, Malone said most of them are adding upgrades such as three-car garages, full basements or additional bedrooms. In fact, the average closing price is closer to $300,000, Malone said.
Unlike many growing suburbs on Chicagoland’s fringes, where single-family homes dominate the residential permit numbers, Tinley Park and Orland Park issue just as many multifamily as single-family permits. This translates to an abundance of town homes and condos, which tend to draw singles, childless couples and senior citizens. That also explains why schools here are not bursting at the seams like those in burgs to the far west and northwest. The Orland Park School District 135, which includes 10 schools covering kindergartners through 8th graders, reported a slow increase of 1 to 2 percent a year for the past seven years.
The average age in Tinley Park rose from 28 in 1980 to 35 today, said Village Clerk Frank German. So, despite housing-shortage cries from seniors’ groups, many are, in fact, finding affordable housing here.
Catering to the multifamily market is Bryan Nooner, chief executive officer of Distinctive Homes Ltd. in Orland Park. He’s building The Preserve of Orland Park, which will include 96 condos, plus 32 single-family homes. The 1,600-square-foot, two-bedroom condos are situated so that each is an end unit. The base prices of $154,000 to $184,000 are appealing to empty-nesters, young couples and seniors, Nooner said.
The Preserve’s single-family homes have 2,000 to 4,200 square feet, with base prices from $240,000 to $350,000 for two-story or ranch models. Nooner touts a “dream package that includes things that would usually be upgrades such as fireplaces, whirlpool tubs, upgraded cabinets, decks, one year’s lawn maintenance, three-car garages.”
A town home development with a twist is West Point Meadows, under construction on a close-to-town, in-fill property by West Point Builders & Developers in Tinley Park. This 136-home community offers two-story units with garages in the rear, and private, themed gardens. The reading garden includes a backyard pond and hammock. The spa garden has an outdoor hot tub. The entertaining garden has a roomy deck and colorful plantings, while the kitchen garden includes an herb garden.
The gardens are upgrades from the $155,990 to $181,990 base prices, of course, but buyers are signing on the dotted line.
Tena and Dennis Johnson are among the West Point Meadows empty-nesters who moved here from the Tinley Park single-family home where they raised their children.
“We wanted to stay in town, but didn’t want to mow the lawn or shovel snow,” Tena said.
The Johnsons’ unit has a first-floor master suite, plus second-floor bedrooms for visiting grandchildren.
It won’t be long before Tinley’s in-fill treasures are gone. “By 2010 or 2015, the town will be built out,” said Tinley Park’s planning director, Dave Samuelson. “But already, most of the undeveloped land is spoken for and zoned, and we have border agreements with Oak Forest, Frankfort, Orland Park and Mokena.”
The village’s new comprehensive plan, adopted in 1998 to replace a 1967 version, draws attention to preserving neighborhoods, maintaining the village’s infrastructure and streetscape upgrades, he said. Although housing demand dictates the supply for the most part here, he predicts more developers’ proposals for unassisted living units for seniors.
No man’s land is just as scarce in Orland Park, said the village’s community development director, Robert Sullivan. “There’s very little land left,” he said.
Not surprisingly, Orland Park and Tinley Park have their share of growing pains, including traffic congestion and waiting lists for train station parking spaces. But overall, village officials report a controlled-growth stance as they complete the building of their villages. Grover Elmore’s poster is a bit dated, but it still reflects the community spirit that drew new-home buyers decades ago:
“Only families who are desirable as neighbors live there,” it said. “In a community such as this, neighborliness counts for a great deal. From good neighbors, such as one has at Tinley Park, comes much of the joy of life there in clean, fresh air, where the children can play and grow strong happily, while the whole family forges ahead.”
