Countryside Center actually to be a town center

Richard Dube describes Triland Properties' latest development as a distant cousin to a lifestyle center.

The planned $26 million redevelopment of Countryside Center, 50 west of downtown Chicago, will offer just 166,000 square feet of retail space but will sit at the heart of the busiest intersection of Yorkville, Ill.

"This development is going to have an enormous impact in the town" said Dube, a majority owner in Tri-Land, which has repositioned 40 retail developments, mostly unanchored open-air centers, in the past 25 years. "It will have some of the characteristics of a lifestyle center, but only smaller than the typical lifestyle center," he said. "But even better than being a lifestyle center, this development will be at the center of town. The intersection where it is located is superb."

That highly sung intersection of routes 47 and 34 has 10 lanes and serves 40,000 vehicles daily, a number expected to reach 60,000 within 2 years.

The city of Yorkville is betting big on the project. A $5 million TIF bond awaits approval this month. "Without the TIF financing, this wasn't going to happen," Dube said. "The underlying financial economics wouldn't have worked. The city of Yorkville will get an enormous benefit from the sales-tax dollars once the bond is burned off, and we will be able to offer realistic rents now to the right national retailers."

Ground-breaking is set for the fall, with the opening planned for next summer. No tenants have signed yet, but Dube is in talks with some national retailers typically found in neighborhood and lifestyle centers. The rents will probably hover between $18 and $26 per square foot. Besides a single anchor, which will be either a department store or a major supermarket, Dube is pursuing some fashion-oriented national retail shops.

As a bedroom community, Yorkville is bracing for continued new housing starts and more residents. The population within a five-mile radius is expected to reach 51,000 by 2008, more than triple the 14,649 in 1990. To accommodate this growth and the resultant motor vehicle traffic, the Illinois Department of Transportation will upgrade the intersection in front with dedicated left and right-turn lanes in all directions.

Within two miles of Countryside Center, 4,000 single-family homes are slated for construction in the next four years. Yorkville's median household income of $78,000 a year does not accurately reflect the demographics of the area's newcomers, many of whom commute to Oakbrook.

"The family income will probably rise above this, based on the kind of housing they are building near this development," Dube said.

Preliminary design plans, by the Oakbrook-based DZA Associates, emphasize a prairie style reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright. Elements will include storefront canopies, window treatments, brick inserts in sidewalks and "human-scale" lighting in the parking lots - meaning the fixtures do not exceed a certain height, as opposed to having white lights shining down from tall poles. The parking areas will include lush landscaping with a rich offering of trees and broad sidewalks leading to the center.

"This is going to have a town center kind of feel with substantive and warm architecture, the kind of place residents will want to go to meet their friends and neighbors," said Dube. "You won't feel like you are walking in a sea of asphalt."