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Village Shopping Center Lake Park at Hyde Park Blvd., redevelopment concepts Presented by Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, its Development, Preservation and Zoning Committee, and their website hydepark.org. hpkcc@aol.com. President & Chair George Rumsey. Join HPKCC and our work. |
Eli Ungar is requeting agenda time at the Nov. 19 TIF meeting to discuss sthis project. Neighborhood Club, 7 pm.
There is serious possibility of redevelopment of Lake Village Shopping Center (Antheus owned) at 51st and Lake Park All these are owned by Antheus Capital and managed by MAC Properties. Village Foods and Hyde Park Realty say (for now) they have long-term leases and won't leave. A plan by Antheus was being considered by Ald. Preckwinkle but was pulled from the March TIF agenda as not ready. Plans revealed in May were thought by some strong, but Alderman Preckwinkle is withholding support, said to be related to concerns about the developer or otherwise not related to the site. Antheus says it must have commitment fairly soon, so the proposal may die. (There was a major electrical explosion in the pancake house, but all businesses are now operating.)
At the July 9 TIF Meeting, this project was briefly mentioned by Ald. Preckwinkle, as reported by Trish Morse, HPKCC board member:
The Village Foods location development by Antheus reported in the Herald is very preliminary. There has been no community approval, no presentation to the TIF. There are "other things to address with this developer" before there can be any talk about the Village Foods project, so it's long way away.
As of July 2007, according to the Herald, Antheus was thinking of a mixed development that in phase one uses all the vacant space, leaving for later development present buildings with long term leases including the Village Foods grocery store, Hyde Park Mortgage Co., Original House of Pancakes.
According to the Herald, Antheus Capital has hired Baum Realty Group to consult and market with prospective uses of a futuristic 22,800 sf retail section of a c. 12 or more story building that would also have c156 condos, a 23,800 sf garage, and a green roof space.
Three major leaseholders would be worked around for the l-shaped building- Village Foods, Original House of Pancakes, and Hyde Park Mortgage (which is moving to its lower level and design the upper section). HP Mortgage told the Herald its refusal is based on low offer and its plans to manage its space in its interest through a long-term lease.
Antheus' Eli Ungar is reported in the July 4 Herald as saying he is waiting for Ald. Preckwinkle to green light the project. Preckwinkle is reported in th article as saying the the project has to be presented to TIF committees and the public as well as completing "other duties." "[It] can't start because they have other work that needs to be done." She said these have nothing to do with the Village Center project.
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Herald, October 18, 2006. By Erin Meyer, continued:
Since reporting last week that Village Center may be headed for redevelopment, the Herald has received statements from two tenants regarding their future in the 41-year-old shopping center. Officials from Hyde Park Mortgage Company, 1509 E. Hyde Park Blvd., and Village Foods, 1521 E. Hyde Park Blvd., both indicated that their leases are long-term. Neither have any intention of moving.
"There has been a supermarket at Village Center continuously since the center was built in 1965. We have had the privilege of serving the Hyde Park community at this location for the past 23 years," said Don Notaro, vice president of Village Foods. "Our current lease affords us the opportunity to continue to provide our customers with the highest quality, lowest priced supermarket products in Hyde Park for many years to come and at the same time provide employment for 60 people. We do not know what the future holds for the center, but Village Foods intends to be a part of that future."
William Harris, president of Hyde Park Mortgage Company, said, "I have a long-term lease. I love my space and I plan on being here for a very long time to come. I have been here for the last seven years and I plan on being here for the next decade until I retire."
The news that Village Center may be in play came early last week when two unrelated sources said that the center's management company, MAC Property Management, LLC, did not want to fill vacant retail or commercial space. A real estate broker working to find new tenants for Village Center and a company that recently backed out of a lease for the old Burger King space said MAC plans to redevelop Village Center.
The New-Jersey-based company took over Village Center earlier in the year when it was purchased by another company, 1525 HP, LLC. That company was created by Antheus Capital, LLC for the sole purpose of owning the property. Officials from MAC Property Management and Antheus Capital declined comment.
Situated at the corner of Lake Park Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard, Village Center offers prime retail and commercial space. Notaro and Harris recognize the location as critical. "My space is is the best space in Hyde Park in terms of visibility," Harris said. The mortgage company leases 3,500 square feet but does not utilize all of the space. "I am looking forward to adding another business within my space soon," Harris said....
[Other businesses in the Center include Original House of Pancakes, U of C Dialysis Center, and Looking Glass Hair Salon.' Top
Herald, May 30, 2007. By Nykeya Woods
A mixed-use building may be in the works for Village Center at 51st Street and Lake Park Avenue. Chuck Thurow, member of 53rd Street Tax Increment Financing Advisory Council, said that Antheus Capital wants to create a contemporary multi-story building that stretches to the street, on what is now the center's parking lot.
The building will not have "the classic parking in front of the mall look," Thurow said. Thurow, who heads up the TIF's Planning and Development Committee, said he has met with Wicker Park-based Studio Gang Architects to talk about design options. Preliminary drafts have retail stores on the bottom floor with residential condominiums above and internal parking, Thurow said.
"I would love to see 51st street become much more of a commercial, interesting, walkable area. It would be a huge advantage to the Hyde Park Art Center because all of our visitors quite often want to walk out and walk to a restaurant and find something interesting to do," said Thurow, who is also the Hyde Park art Center's executive director.
Eli Ungar, investor for New Jersey-based Antheus Capital, said that he has talked to Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and others in the community and is taking into account recommendations about the design. "We are working diligently to arrive at a design that reflects the interests of the community," Ungar said.
The building that houses the University of Chicago Dialysis Center and former Burger King as well as the current parking lot are in the footprint of the new building. The fate of the western half of the shopping center, which is hoe to the Original House of Pancakes, Lookingglass Salon, Hyde Park Mortgage and Village Foods, all of which have long-term leases, is uncertain. .. Top
Herald, July 4, 2007. By Yvette Presberry
[Ald. Preckwinkle commented at the July 9 TIF meeting that plans are way to preliminary for the tenor of this article, it hasn't come to the TIF yet, and the owner has lots of duties to take care of before she will bring the project before the community.]
Village Center, 1525 E. Hyde Park Blvd., may change into a large-scale mixed-use development. This could become a reality within 10 years. New Jersey-based Antheus Capita hired chicago-based Baum Realty Group to talk to prospective retailers for its proposed multi-level building at Village center. The property, which Antheus says could stand at least 12 stories high, will be built in two phases.
According to documents obtained by the Herald, the property will include 156 condominiums, a 23,800-square-foot parking garage, a green space on the third level above the garage an 22,800 square feet of retail space in an "L" shop on Lake Park Avenue and East Hyde Park Boulevard.
Antheus real estate investor Eli Ungar said that the brochure shown to potential retailers is just for use in preliminary discussions with potential retailers. Renderings for the development show that the mix-use property will be built round the Village Foods, 1521 E. Hyde Park Blvd., the Original Pancake House, 1517 E. Hyde Park Blvd., and Hyde Park Mortgage Co., 1509 E. Hyde Park Blvd. These three retailers reportedly refused to break their leases earl to allow Antheus to conduct their development in one phase.
"We tried, unsuccessfully, to buy our way out of those leases but were unable to reach an agreement with the remaining retailers," Ungar said.
William Harris, president of Hyde Park Mortgage Company, said that nothing has been offered to him. He said his company bas been at its address since 1999, and his lease ends in 2015. He plans to switch the location of his mortgage company to the lower level of the building, and place a different company on the second level where his mortgage company currently sits. He declined to say what type of company will move in, but said it would be placed within 120 days. "That's why I signed a long-term lease," Harris said. "I'm not against progress. If you want to do that [and develop the property], pay me."
...Ungar said that Antheus is waiting for Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (th) to green light the project before beginning development. He did not have a set date for when construction or groundbreaking will begin, but mentioned the second phase would occur after the leases of the pancake restaurant, mortgage company and Village Foods ended.
Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said that before Antheus can build anything, the company has to present its idea to the 53d Street TIF ..Advisory Council for approval, a TIF working group and then the public. According to Preckwinkle, Antheus has other duties to complete."[The development] can't start because they have other work that needs to be done," Preckwinkle said. She declined to say what the duties were, but said it did not have anything to do with the Village Center redevelopment.
Views and analyses
Carl Pickerill comments on the design mockup with the previous article, "Glass and steel not appropriate."
July 18, 2007
It is good to hear that such an expansive development is planned for the corner of Hyde Park and Lake Park boulevards to replace the concrete wasteland of a parking lot that sits there now. I wanted to know if the Herald has done any research as to what sat on the spot before.
To the best of my knowledge, the old Hyde Park Hotel, an elegant 10-story building sat on that very corner, but I am not quite sure. If so, might we as Hyde Park residents demand more from a developer than the simple glass and steel retail-residential center we saw on the front page of your paper last week. Perhaps something like a modified version of the old hotel that combines the parking-residential-retail-green space features that the developer wants. I hope to see more discussion on this in the future. Thanks.
Jack Spicer on the plan, from an email on development process and principles after the December 8 Workshop
There is a new development proposed for the SW corner of Lake Park and Hyde Park Blvd. (the Pancake House site [Ed.- the developer does not intend in this phase to affect the Pancake House of Hyde Park Mortgage, which have long-term leases.]). It is designed by Studio Gang who are the architects for the recently approved Solstice development at 56th and Cornell in the 5th ward. This is a chance for a density-building project with new living space near our Metra train, a mixed-use building that comes out to the pedestrian sidewalk eliminating the streetscape-killing exposed parking lot, and great contemporary design. The alderman, acting as our local Prince Charles, has vetoed the proposed building because it is "ugly."