Developer to pay $4 million for Wilmette lot

Updated: December 18, 2012 12:28PM

WILMETTE — Touting the deal as an exact fit with Wilmette’s vision of high density downtown living and shopping, Village President Chris Canning announced Tuesday that the village will sell the former Wil-Shore Ford property to Lexington Homes LLC for $4 million.

The board will review the contract at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 in a special public meeting. After that, Lexington can apply for appearance and zoning approval of its proposal; a six-story, mixed-use building with 110 luxury apartments and 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

Lexington Homes LLC representative Moises Cukierman said Wednesday that he did not want to speculate to when construction would begin because he didn’t know how long the approval process would take.

The $4 million sale price will more than cover the $3.67 million Wilmette paid to buy the long-vacant Wil-Shore Ford site in February of 2011.

Canning emphasized that despite the pending contract, nothing about the project is final, and said, “The public will have multiple opportunities to review the plans and comment on the project.”

The sale would close 30 days after Lexington gets its final zoning approval.

More importantly, Canning said, the project fits Wilmette’s plans for transit-oriented development around the downtown Metra station at 711 Green Bay Road.

The mid-rise development “brings high quality residential and retail occupancies close to mass transportation … this development will guide the future of the west village center,” Canning said.

Wilmette trustees approved the downtown master plan – a collection of development guidelines, traffic circulation plans and proposed zoning changes – in January 2011, after years of study, consultant work and residential and business input.

The lot at 611 Green Bay, now a temporary green space north and east of the Wilmette Public Library, attracted the attention of close to 20 developers since Wilmette put out requests for proposals last January. Village staff looked at four or five of the most serious offers and has worked with Lexington since last spring, Community Development Director John Adler said Tuesday.

The sale doesn’t include two adjacent village-owned properties at 1225 Central Ave. and on the 600 block of Park Avenue, which houses a village parking lot. Wilmette bought the Central land and storefront property in October, 2011, for $630,000. Adler said the village will probably focus on completing the Lexington deal before deciding how to proceed with those much smaller lots.

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