OP_111518

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the orland park prairie | November 15, 2018 | 3
Orland Park Village Board
Officials pick purchaser, developer
for Main Street Triangle property
Jon DePaolis
Freelance Reporter
Orland Park has chosen a
company to move forward
with the Main Street Triangle.
The Orland Park Village
Board voted 6-0 Nov. 5, to
move forward with Structured
Development LLC as
the purchaser and developer
of the Village-owned property
within the Triangle.
The vote came after a
closed session. Trustee
James Dodge was absent.
As part of the vote to select
Structured Development,
the board members
directed Village staff to begin
negotiating a real estate
purchase and master development
agreement with the
Chicago-based company.
In her comments prior
to the vote, Trustee Carole
Griffin Ruzich said this process
began back in February.
“We were successful in
that we had several responses
to the [Request for Qualifications],”
she said. “We
ended up with two quality
developers, and we were
very fortunate to have had
those proposals before us.”
Ruzich said she was excited
about moving forward
with Structured Development
because of the company’s
experience.
“They are going to be able
to complete the Triangle
and the project, I think, with
minimal incentives from
the Village,” she said. “Our
consultant, SB Friedman,
has analyzed the project, as
well. In addition, it was their
recommendation to proceed
with [Structured Development].”
Trustee Dan Calandriello
thanked staff and the committee
who looked into the
proposals.
“I know it’s a tough process
that we’re halfway
through,” Calandriello said.
“We’ve picked a dance partner,
and now it’s time to
dance. I appreciate all your
hard work. We started with
the train station, Ninety7Fifty,
University of Chicago
and now Structured. I think
it’s going to be a great seed
and a great foundation for a
great Triangle project.”
Trustee Patricia Gira said
the project has been “a long
ride.”
“Who could have foreseen
what would happen in 2008,
where the whole plan got derailed
from its original partner
that we had back then,”
she said.
Gira said she and other
board members recently took
a “field trip” to see other developments
from Structured
and liked what they saw.
Meanwhile, Trustee Kathleen
Fenton said she hopes
Structured will take into account
suggestions that have
been received from residents
and board members.
“Concentrating more on
mom-and-pop [stores] and
entertainment, and less on
rental space for housing,”
she said. “I’ve always had
a vision for down there of
the mom-and-pop shops, so
people can go have a place
to go during a warm summer
evening or even a cool fall
night.”
Mayor Keith Pekau said
a lot of money has been
spent already in the Triangle
project, and it has produced
“good infrastructure.” Now,
the task is putting a successful
project there.
“To me, success is defined
as a unique and interesting
project that all the residents
of Orland Park enjoy — not
just those people that are in
newly constructed apartments
in and around the TIF
district,” he said. “It’s got to
be something for all the residents.”
Pekau commended the
board members for going to
a Request for Proposals for
all of the remaining property,
not just parcel by parcel.
“I think that was the right
thing to do, and it was a departure
from the past,” he
said.
Pekau also said the drawings
for this project will not
look like those shared with
the public in the past, “because
this is a new development
based on the current
market conditions.”
For example, he said he
does not think the “restaurant
pads” underneath the
parking garage will be restaurants
anymore.
Reached by phone Nov.
6, Village Manager Joe La
Margo expressed excitement
about moving forward with
Structured.
“Both proposals were very
good,” La Margo said. “But
we’re excited about working
with Structured because
of their experience and the
uniqueness about what they
presented. We’re looking
forward to negotiating an
MDA with them and getting
to the next steps, so we
can really start getting that
downtown moving.”
Jeff Berta, senior director
of real estate development
at Structured Development,
was at the meeting.
“The vision is for a mixeduse,
downtown type project,
and that’s very much what
we’ve done in our history,”
Berta said after the meeting
concluded. “Ground-up development,
and so we felt
this was a perfect fit for us.”
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