The Business and Civic Council of Oak Park endorses the proposed Albion residential tower and urges the Plan Commission and village trustees to grant the necessary approvals.
This organization came into existence in 2004 when downtown Oak Park was struggling. Since then, we’ve seen a rebirth of commerce along Lake Street, accelerated by the ongoing construction of apartment towers in the corridor. As we’ve noted before, these rental properties are crucial to augmenting Oak Park’s property tax base while minimizing public costs associated with an influx of more school-age residents.
Albion’s 265 planned units, of which only 66 have more than one bedroom, plus its 9,500 square feet of retail space, will further these financial and social goals. As the village’s Envision Oak Park plan noted in 2014, municipal land use policies “should support and encourage a mix of uses and businesses to assist in diversifying the community’s tax base and providing a variety of choices to consumers.”
The clustering of Albion and other apartment towers, including neighboring Vantage Oak Park, near transit stations, restaurants, stores and entertainment venues will lure new residents and increase sales tax revenue. At the same time, it will curtail demand for automobile use and parking spots.
Albion’s developer, Albion Residential, a unit of Dallas-based Sammons Enterprises, asks for no public subsidies and predicts the Oak Park building, when normalized, will generate $1 million annually in property taxes. That’s not counting lucrative transfer-tax revenue when the building is inevitably sold, and sold again. Vantage Oak Park at Lake and Forest is already on the market just a year after it opened.
Albion Residential also has pledged $550,000 in payments to Oak Park entities, with two-thirds of the money earmarked for parks like Austin Gardens and other tree and landscape work.
The BCC acknowledges that the 2005 Crandall Arambula plan floated an alternate use — open space — for Albion’s targeted site on the northwest corner of Lake and Forest. But village hall never pursued this option, which would entail costly demolition of the Lytton’s building without the promise of new tax revenue. And the Park District of Oak Park was cool to the idea of directly exposing Austin Gardens to the commercial bustle of Lake Street. Appreciation of downtown property values since 2005 makes this option even less attractive.
Opposition to Albion focuses on its 18 stories casting shadows on Austin Gardens and its solar-paneled Environmental Education Center, opened last year in a spot the park district says was adjusted to take into account shade cast by the Vantage building. Village hall reviewed an Albion Residential-commissioned shade study and said the building would diminish sunlight on Austin Gardens by just 2 percent, compared with an 11 percent decline attributable to Vantage.
Albion contends that all but 1 percent of the vegetation will receive sufficient sunlight.
The park district, meanwhile, says Albion’s shadow would cut solar-based power production by 12 to 14 percent for the environmental center and thus is exploring options for relocating some of the panels.
Wind sheer is another concern, given Albion’s proximity to the even taller Vantage Oak Park. Citing another study it commissioned, Albion Residential says that its building in some cases will have a positive impact on wind sheer on Forest Avenue. The village does not dispute this assessment.
In sum, by enhancing the assessed valuation of the downtown area, while minimally impacting Austin Gardens and vehicular traffic patterns — all at no cost in the form of taxpayer subsidies — the Albion will be good for Oak Park and its residents.
Business and Civic Council of Oak Park is composed of Frank Pellegrini, president; Martin Noll, treasurer; and Bill Planek, Mike Fox, Tom Gallagher, Willis Johnson, and Greg Melnyk, directors.
