Developers are sinking to new lows in residential construction.
High prices for increasingly rare prime land have driven them to seek “new” land — in the depths of old quarries, which can be recycled once mining has stopped.
Though living in a quarry might conjure up claustrophobic thoughts of high rock walls, many Chicago-area quarries slope gently to a lake, creating a scenic setting for new housing with hillside views.
Several old quarries in the metropolitan area have been mined for new homes — in Carpentersville, Algonquin, Warrenville, Plainfield and other towns.
Quarry sites also have been reused in other states. A century-old limestone quarry at Bay Harbor, Mich., is being developed with 800 houses.
“More and more quarries are being reclaimed for residential development. They are viewed as valuable real estate, with the water as an amenity,” said Philip Bus, executive director of the Kane County Development Department.
The potential for recycling quarries is substantial. “Kane County is the second leading producer of sand and gravel [mined from quarries] in Illinois. McHenry County is No. 1,” Bus said.
One new residential project being built in a Kane County quarry is Silverstone Lake, which is planned for 944 multifamily units.
South of Algonquin Road and west of Illinois Highway 25 in Carpentersville, the Centex Homes development covers 136 acres of low-lying land scooped out of the earth to a depth of 50 to 70 feet.
From Illinois 25, a road winds down into the quarry, which sports a 13-acre lake as its centerpiece.
Half of the 560 townhouses have been built and construction of the 384 condos is scheduled to begin this month.
Building in a quarry, as you might imagine, is often more difficult than construction on a flat cornfield.
“We had a lot of engineering challenges,” said Dan Star, president of the Illinois division of Centex. “So that the lake won’t flood in case of a 100-year storm, we installed pipes that will drain stormwater under the berm to the west and ultimately into the Fox River.”
The berm was built to shield the new housing from the quarry next door.
Star said a sanitary sewer lift station also had to be installed.
“We contracted for the land in 1998, but it took longer than the usual site to get all the necessary approvals,” he added.
Additional land preparation was required before construction could begin. “It’s a big bowl. We had to figure out creative ways to make it work,” said Jim Riley, division land manager for Centex.
“The property was annexed into Carpentersville and zoned for 1,150 residential units in 1980, at a time when it still was being mined,” Riley said.
To build on the hillsides, terraced retaining walls had to be built. During grading, portions of the angled ground were flattened into pads for construction.
“There was a lot of gravel in the ground. We imported clay, and black dirt for areas that would be planted with grass,” Riley said.
He noted that none of the homes has basements. “To have them would be tough here, because the basements would be below the water table,” Riley explained.
The lake is spring-fed and is 25 feet deep at its deepest. A safety ledge of shallow water extends 10 feet into the lake in case somebody might stumble in.
A walking path encircles the lake. Fishing will be permitted, but boating and ice skating will not.
Besides the lake’s allure for its aesthetics, it will have two gazebos built on pilings 50 feet out in the water and connected to the shore by bridges.
Starting townhouse prices at Silverstone Lake range from $147,990 to $156,990 (1,096 to 1,140 square feet), while condos go from $109,990 to $143,990 (788 to 1,150 square feet).
The trend toward reclaiming quarries for residential use is accelerating, according to Bob Wegener, president of McHenry-based Smith Engineering.
“Quarries have great value once mining is completed. Land values have increased so much that the reclammation of quarries is now economically feasible,” Wegener said.
“A lot of people like the lakes and the rolling topography of quarries. Recycling them can be fantastic. You come out at the end of the day with an asset,” he added.
The gravel being mined is from glacial deposits left after the last ice age, Wegener explained.
He said most operators of sand and gravel pits reclaim the land as they go. “They realize there’s money in gravel, but there’s also money in the end use of the land, which could be a residential community.”
Wegener added that sand and gravel pits with sloped sides, rather than the steep walls of limestone quarries, are found in McHenry and Lake Counties.
In the future, the active quarry next to Silverstone could be recycled for residential use. “At some point in time, it could be annexed and developed with housing,” said Craig Anderson, Carpentersville village administrator.
Kane County’s Bus said that recycling quarries may have other positive effects, including eliminating nuisances. “Some quarries are used as dumps or for dirt bike riding or target practice.”
Just northwest of Silverstone Lake is Algonquin Lakes, with 380 houses built on the sides of the quarry and surrounding three lakes. In Algonquin, the project by Realen Homes also has 6 miles of walking trails.
“Because of the sandy soil, a number of homes were built on caissons,” said Bob Riccio, vice president of sales and marketing for Realen, in Inverness.
“Algonquin Lakes was loaded with challenges,” said Algonquin Village Manager Bill Gonek.
“The village worked closely in planning the project. Major changes were required in the grade of the slopes so they were not too steep to build on,” Gonek said. “The lake had to be preserved. The water in quarry lakes is basically clean, but it can be polluted by development, including fertilizer runoff from lawns.”
He added that plans include building a recreational facility on one of the lakes that would have a beach and a launching area for canoes or paddleboats.
“Algonquin Lakes proves what can be done at the end of a mining operation. Instead of being a vacant eyesore, it is an asset for the community,” Gonek said.
Quarry recycling isn’t limited to the northwest suburbs. The Lakelands development in southwest suburban Plainfield consists of 215 homes around Walloon Lake, which was once a gravel quarry and later the site of a fishing club.
A new section, called the Lakelands Club, is planned around an adjoining lake. The gated, waterfront development will have 67 houses, priced from $358,400 to $472,500, plus lot, and 18 duplexes, which start at $377,900.
In the late 1960s, Material Services Corp. discontinued quarry operations at the 323-acre site, which now has 225 acres of water.
In west suburban Warrenville, the former Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Quarry is being transformed into Cantera, a mixed-use complex of housing, offices and light industrial plants.
Built at the 650-acre site are 330 apartments and 170 townhouses.
Warrenville Mayor Vivian Lund emphasized that the quarry was not a deep pit. Gravel was mined during the construction of the East-West Tollway.
“But the site needed to be filled in before construction. Not all of the soil was buildable. Clay had to be brought in. Some of the buildings are on floating foundations or built on piers,” Lund said. She praised the potential of recycling quarries: “They’re easy to plan because there’s nothing there, like a blank piece of paper.”
Other parts of the country also are building in quarries.
In what is billed as the largest land reclamation project in North America, an abandoned century-old limestone quarry in Bay Harbor, Mich., has been transformed into a 1,200-acre residential community with 5 miles of Lake Michigan. The project by Victor International Corp. of Auburn Hills, Mich., comprises 800 houses, a town center with shopping and dining, marina with yacht club and a golf course.
Bay Harbor is a finalist in the 2003 Awards for Excellence competition held by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based group that fosters responsible land development. The winners will be announced Oct. 31 at the group’s fall meeting in San Francisco.
