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First and Garfield corner may be redeveloped in Hinsdale
The owners of the property on the southwest corner of First Street and Garfield Avenue have presented a plan to redevelop the site with a two-story commercial building.
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Updated: April 22, 2013 2:41AM
HINSDALE — The owners of the property on the southwest corner of First Street and Garfield Avenue are ready to move forward with redeveloping the site.
PPK Architects, representing the owners, the Naccaratos, is proposing to demolish the existing building and put up a two-story building, with retail stores on the ground floor and, most likely, offices on the second floor.
The village Zoning Board of Appeals will review the project, which has several variances from the building code related to setbacks, landscaping and signs, at its Feb. 27 meeting.
The Plan Commission will evaluate the project March 13, as the owners hope to move smoothly the review process.
A parking lot is on the corner of Garfield and First, and an empty commercial building, facing First Street, is west of the parking lot. That building is “past its useful life,” and “wasn’t very marketable,” said David Kennedy, a principal with PPK Architects.
The new commercial building still would face First, but it would extend all the way to Garfield, with a parking lot to the rear or south of the building.
The first floor could be divided into six stores, not as deep as some of the stores in the existing building. They could range from 1,540 square feet to 2,300 square feet in size.
“There’s probably a little more demand for tenants of this size,” Kennedy said at a ZBA meeting in January.
Timothy Scott, Hinsdale’s director of economic development, agreed.
“By and large, smaller is better in today’s market,” Scott said. “Retailers want a street presence and a shallower depth, because they are carrying less inventory and fewer employees.”
Kennedy anticipates multi-tenants on the second floor, which has a total of 11,000 square feet of space, but “there’s almost zero possibility of the second floor being retail,” Kennedy said.
The plan for the building façade has brick and stone, with alternating materials and different sizes and shapes of windows, to resemble a row of adjacent storefronts, as opposed to one long building.
Delivery trucks would enter the parking lot from First Street and then exit onto Garfield. The ZBA asked for a traffic study for the project, as the site abuts Hinsdale Middle School to the south.
