Orland Park Selection Latest In Suburbs Looking To Create A Downtown Feel

The village of Orland Park just selected Structured Development LLC to complete the final phase of its new downtown district, following a request for qualifications and request for proposals process. The Chicago-based firm will develop the remaining 9 acres of the village’s 27-acre Downtown Main Street “Triangle” master plan. Once completed, the project will provide residents and visitors with a pedestrian-friendly, urban-inspired district that has little in common with the suburban strip malls of the past.

“Our vision is very much in line with the village of Orland Park,” Structured Development Senior Director of Real Estate Development Jeff Berta said. “The village already has a truly mixed-use environment, and we will enhance that. We want an area that has a downtown feel with morning and evening activity, and is a place where the community can gather.”

Orland Park is far from alone among Chicago suburbs in its attempt to create a more vibrant core.

“Suburbs used to be strip malls on a street corner surrounded by single-family houses,” Berta said. But downtowns in Naperville and Downers Grove, among others, now have dense residential developments with retail and entertainment outlets that attract visitors at all hours.

Most of these new downtown communities have sprung up around train stations that give new residents the opportunity to quickly reach jobs in Chicago. And Orland Park’s Triangle site, which already has Ninety7Fifty, a 295-unit mixed-use rental community, is bordered on one side by the Metra Southwest Service Line.

“Transit-oriented development is not just for the city of Chicago,” Berta said.

The University of Chicago Medicine Center for Advanced Care, a 110K SF medical office building, is already in the Triangle, along with a 500-space public parking structure and Crescent Park, a landscaped green space. The site is across from Orland Park Crossing, a 107K SF lifestyle center, and the Residences at Orland Park Crossing, a 231-unit rental community.

“Orland Park’s Main Street area is the gateway to the village; it’s one of the first things people see when entering our community,” said trustee Carole Griffin Ruzich, chair of the village’s Development Services Committee. “This is why it’s so very important that the remaining parcels be developed by a company that has the ability to make the village board’s vision a reality. Downtown Orland Park is going to be around for a long time, and we want future residents to appreciate the conscientious efforts that we are making now to ensure a quality development at the level for which Orland Park is known.”

Six developers initially vied for the right to purchase and develop the remaining Triangle parcels. Village officials said they selected Structured Development partly due to its extensive experience in developing urban mixed-use properties. The firm’s portfolio includes the NEWCITY development, a nearly 1M SF project at the intersection of Halsted Street and Clybourn Avenue in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Completed in fall 2015, it comprises more than 390K SF of retail and commercial space, a 199-unit luxury rental tower and nearly 2 acres of landscaped green space, including a public plaza.

The market will dictate what happens with Orland Park’s remaining Triangle parcels. But Berta said the village is very interested in an office component that would complement the university’s medical offices and further increase daytime use.

“It would be a great, logical next step.”