For the second time, the Park Ridge City Council has turned down a request from a real estate office to open at the Shops of Uptown.
Aldermen on Feb. 7 voted 6-1 against a motion to grant special-use approval for a ground floor office at 2 N. Northwest Highway.
The City Council previously took action rejecting the same proposal on Dec. 6.
The proposal, which sought approval for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate to open in the 4,300-square-foot space, was initially turned down by the Park Ridge Planning and Zoning Commission as well. The City Council on Dec. 20 agreed to send the matter back to the commission after 4th Ward Ald. Harmony Harrington made a motion for it to be reconsidered following a request from a Shops of Uptown representative.
The planning and zoning commission heard the case for a second time on Jan. 25 with Andrew Schrage, leasing representative with Phillips Edison & Company, the owner of Shops of Uptown, addressing the commissioners. Schrage suggested that options are limited for the space because there is not adjacent parking, it cannot be subdivided and it cannot be used for a restaurant because it was not built with space for an exhaust system that can extend to the roof.
“We believe we have found the highest and best use for this intersection,” Schrage told the City Council on Feb. 7.
But aldermen remained unconvinced. Under the city’s Uptown Plan, retail, restaurant and entertainment uses are recommended for first-floor spaces in Shops of Uptown and offices must obtain special approval from the City Council.
Second Ward Ald. Fred Sanchez said a professional office at 2 N. Northwest Highway is “not consistent” with the Uptown Plan.
“We need to be very careful about when we’re going to grant the special use,” he said.
“It’s supposed to be a pedestrian-oriented service business,” said 1st Ward Ald. John Moran. “The applicant has made it clear this is not a pedestrian-oriented service business.”
The previous tenant, a Charles Schwab brokerage firm, did receive special approval from City Council to open there in 2013. The space has been vacant for about two years.
Ayoub Rabah, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s central west region, told the planning and zoning commission in November that the real estate office would have about two to four employees at any given time, with most agents out in the community meeting with clients.
An Uptown Redevelopment Agreement concerning Shops of Uptown requires offices to pay the city in lieu of sales tax if they are approved. However, that agreement will only be in effect for less than six more years, Moran noted. The agreement cannot be renegotiated, said Drew Awsumb, director of community preservation and development for the city.
Harrington, who requested the reconsideration of the Coldwell Banker proposal, was the only alderman to vote in favor of the special-use permit on Feb. 7. She had been absent for the council’s earlier vote on Dec. 6.
Back in 2004, when the multimillion-dollar Shops of Uptown development was initially approved by Park Ridge elected officials, the proposed 2 N. Northwest Highway commercial space consisted of two floors and names like Borders, Barnes and Noble, Gap and Walter E. Smithe Furniture were tossed about by city officials as possible future tenants.
Ultimately, the size was reduced to a single floor and the only retail business to operate in the space was Amphora, a locally-owned home furnishings shop. It was open from 2009 to 2013 in that location.
Schrage told the planning and zoning commission on Jan. 25 that he had been in talks with several prospective retail tenants, but he cited the lack of adjacent parking as the reason why they did not move forward with their plans. He denied on Feb. 7 that rent is an issue, stating that lower rents were proposed to other prospective tenants and even then he was unable to secure a tenant.
