Niles mayor George Alpogianis promises the renaissance of Niles will continue in 2026, as the village works closely with Golf Mill mall redevelopers, reimagines the property surrounding the Leaning Tower YMCA and ushers in new residential and retail developments.
Additionally, two advisory referendums will be on the March 17 primary ballot seeking to gauge how residents feel about funding a free bus service and if they would consider autonomous cars in the village.
Pace and free bus service. Advisory referendum to ask about Waymo.
Alpogianis told Pioneer Press that he expects a new contract with Pace bus service soon regarding the free bus service that had been running in the village since the 1970s before it came to a halt last fall. The service stopped in September when it was discovered the village was no longer insured or indemnified by Pace.
Since then, village leaders have been negotiating a new contract with Pace, and Alpogianis hopes to restart the service in late February at a cost to the village of about $600,000 – with Pace paying $1 million toward the transit service, he said.
Meanwhile, he wants to put forth an advisory referendum to determine if the ridership for the free bus service is still there and if any changes to the routes are needed to better serve the community.
“I really want our citizens to have a good, solid understanding of where they’re money is going,” Alpogianis said. “I want to be transparent.”
He said he also wants to be innovative in Niles, and is planning a second advisory referendum tapping residential input on autonomous, or self-driving cars.
A recent visit to see his daughter in San Francisco introduced him to autonomous – self-driving taxicabs. Admittedly, he said it was a little weird to ride in one but he knows the west coast trend could eventually make its way to the midwest.
“I want to be a proactive mayor, I want to get ahead of this, what do you think of this?” Alpogianis said of asking residents to put in a vote for introducing autonomous vehicles in Niles.
Waymo, the autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, also operate in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin, Texas. The company owner, Google parent Alphabet Inc., plans to expand to more than 20 other cities across the globe, including the U.S. cities of St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Miami.
While Alpogianis looks into bringing such self-driving taxis to Niles, Alphabet has met with hurdles in its effort to market Waymos in Illinois. The Tribune reported in December that opinions are mixed on the driverless vehicles. While there is a bill in Springfield that could pave the way for autonomous vehicles to operate in the state, the measure has not moved through the legislature.
Additionally, the Associated Press recently reported that rideshare companies in San Francisco are protesting autonomous vehicles there.
Golf Mill mall redevelopment
Alpogianis remains optimistic that the $443 million retail/residential redevelopment of Golf Mill Shopping Center will move forward as planned in 2026.
Considered the “jewel of Niles for decades,” village leaders have been working closely with the Sterling Organization, the West Palm Beach, Florida-based owners of Golf Mill Shopping Center. Sterling purchased the property in 2014 from the Cuneo Family, who developed the popular mall in the 1950s. However, last May, Sterling floated the idea of selling the property as a way to attract new investors for the redevelopment of the 79-acre site.
“They originally were going to start (demolition) in late September but something happened with the funding,” Alpogianis said.
The mayor explained that Sterling notified the village they were putting the property up for sale last summer.
“They were just casting a wider net,” Alpogianis said about the mall owner. “They would be the master developer and bring investors in for the residential and retail components.
“We did our redevelopment agreement,” Alpogianis said, “it’s in their hands now. I truly believe something will happen this year.”
The Village Board approved a Redevelopment Agreement in 2024, providing a pay-as-you-go tax increment financing incentive up to $96 million for the planned, mixed-use development which village leaders hope will include retail, residential, restaurants, entertainment, medical offices, a hotel and personal services.
Leaning Tower YMCA
Last summer, Alpogianis drove an excavator on the site of the former Niles Leaning Tower YMCA, at 6300 Touhy Ave. It was the first step in tearing down the building constructed in the 1960s adjacent to the village’s landmark Leaning Tower of Niles, a half-scale replica of Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The village bought the former 6.6-acre YMCA site at a cost of $2.1 million. The building was shuttered in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, then the village spent $1.1 million to demolish it.
The property is on the south end of 8 acres of land the village purchased from Grainger in 2019. Alpogianis hopes to redevelop the entire area into a new downtown for Niles.
“We’re in the honeymoon, ‘imagine this’ type of phase,” Alpogianis told Pioneer Press. “We’re trying to figure out what we want to do there. We’re engaging with area building owners; we know we want some green space there, entertainment, shopping, residential. There’s a lot of interest in mixed-use there.”
Although the mayor doesn’t anticipate any building on that site this year, he said there’s a lot of discussion around the “imagination and planning stage” of the property.
Village Hall Plaza
The renovation of Village Hall Plaza is now complete, the mayor said. Village leaders have described it as “a fresh, modern look with a ground level plaza for events, programs and leisure.”
The project, Alpogianis said, cost $2.2 million. However, the village received a $1.8 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the construction. In October, a new piece of art was installed at the site. “Open Symmetry” is a circular, stainless steel structure designed by artist Virginio Ferrari. The mayor described the art piece as representing togetherness – which he hopes will bring people from the community together at the new Village Hall Plaza.
In addition to Village Hall, he said the family services building is in need of updating, and the senior center is expanding. Village leaders are planning to put the teen center inside the senior center and may explore additional intergenerational programming.
A new nest at the site of the White Eagle
Another Niles institution, White Eagle Events and Convention Center, closed its doors at the end of 2025 after 78 years. It was a mainstay in the Polish community, hosting events for up to 1,500 people, and was visited by late President Jimmy Carter and Pope John Paul II.
Alpogianis said Noah Properties purchased the property and will demolish the building, at 6839 N. Milwaukee Ave., beginning in January with plans to build 18 to 20 townhouses and 334 luxury rental apartments. The same developer recently completed another 180-unit luxury rental apartment complex nearby at 6633 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
