When officials in many suburban communities discuss ways to revitalize an aging or moribund downtown, they commonly look to a tax increment finance district as a way to breathe life into the area.
Not so for west suburban Glen Ellyn.
In what some might view as a quaint throwback, officials have allowed old-fashioned market forces to do their thing.
Richard Dunn, Glen Ellyn director of planning and development, said residential building permits, which bottomed out in 1990 at 25, rose to 61 a decade later, and to 69 last year.
The community still continues to annex parcels.
“Typically, we see developers buying lots with two to six parcels, subdividing them, then getting nine to 14 lots and creating a new subdivision,” Dunn said.
Many of the homes are in the $400,000 to $800,000 range, and some are selling for more than $1 million, he said.
Real estate adviser and development consultant Steve Friedman, president of a Chicago-based real estate firm, said two factors have largely contributed to Glen Ellyn’s ability to attract developers without the need for tax-based incentives.
“Certainly the fact that the median income in Glen Ellyn ($74,846, according to the 2000 census) is higher than in other surrounding towns has contributed to the kind of developers the community can attract,” Friedman said.
“The larger issue, I would think, is the historical pattern that’s been in place for a long time. The village has been able to take advantage of its train station and develop around it.”
He said Glen Ellyn’s emphasis on its downtown area “has encouraged multi-family and commercial forces to develop.”
He said rapid train service to downtown Chicago has worked in the community’s favor. That is creating growth in its population of 27,000.
Currently, teardown and in-fill projects characterize Glen Ellyn’s housing market, as opposed to larger projects.
Dan Dowell, a commercial general contractor who has lived in Glen Ellyn since 1980, recently closed on his fourth home in the village.
“My wife and I first lived downtown in Chicago,” Dowell said. “When we decided to start having a family and raising kids, we looked in the paper for a home. I didn’t even know Glen Ellyn existed.”
He said when they saw the downtown area, with the lake and the high school nearby, “we fell in love with the town.
“We like the fact you can still walk to the football games on Saturday afternoon and then go downtown for coffee.”
The Dowells purchased property on a one-acre lot and razed an existing structure in order to build their new home, which includes 6,000 square feet on two upper levels and a 2,000-square-foot lower floor designed as a family entertainment area.
The home has four bathrooms plus two half-baths, along with five fireplaces, an exercise room, and a sauna.
Aurora-based builder Jerry McKeown of McKeown Classic Homes, Inc. built Dowell’s home and has broken ground on Brookshire, nine single-family homes that typify new construction in the village.
“We bought three properties on an older estate located in the southeast section of Glen Ellyn,” he said.
“It was an old equestrian estate with rolling hills and a lot of big trees.”
His development is offering homes of 4,500 square feet and up, priced from $800,000 to more than $1.2 million.
Another builder, Glen McMaster of McMaster Custom Homes in Lombard, has built more than 100 homes in the village.
His current project, Buena Vista Estates, includes nine lots and plans for homes of 3,500 square feet and up, priced from $800,000 to around $1.2 million. It is being developed in partnership with Christine Spencer/Village Estates.
“Because of the land prices in Glen Ellyn, it’s pretty hard to build anything under $650,000 these days,” McMaster said.
He said the community’s mystique is similar to that of Hinsdale or Elmhurst.
“There’s a history here, and a lot of that has been built on integrity,” McMaster said.
The 2000 census shows Glen Ellyn with 10,599 total housing units, of which 6,742 are single-family homes. Dunn said the remaining units, or 36 percent of the total, comprise apartments, condos, townhouses, and duplexes.
David Strosberg, president of the Chicago-based Morningside Group, opened the 40-condominium Glen Astor project in 1998.
“Prior to our project, there had been no new multi-family construction in the downtown area for 20 years,” Strosberg said. “It’s a vibrant, affluent community. There was certainly a demand and Glen Ellyn was the right target market in terms of demographics.”
Strosberg said 75 percent of buyers have been current residents, former residents who came back or parents wanting to remain in Glen Ellyn to be near their adult offspring.
The LaGrange-based Gammonley Group has developed multi-family residences in suburban downtown areas including Downer’s Grove, Elmhurst, LaGrange, Burr Ridge and soon Roselle. It built Glen Stone in 1998, with 37 condominium units and 3,400 square feet of commercial property.
The company’s newest venture, Crescent Station, broke ground this spring.
Rich Gammonley, executive vice-president of the firm, said convenient train service is a key part of the equation: “A project like this somewhere out in say, Aurora, might not be as attractive.”
Crescent Station will feature 21 units, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet, with two or three bedrooms.
According to village President Greg Mathews: “People come back here because there’s this feeling of unity in Glen Ellyn. Our town has a real homey atmosphere, and people feel comfortable and think, `this is where I belong’.”
