Elmhurst At Odds With Townhome Developer

ELMHURST, IL – A developer will need more financial help from Elmhurst if the city mandates a smaller townhome project, the developer's lawyer said this week.

Elmhurst resident John Pembroke is proposing a 36-unit townhome development on the vacant land at 240 W. Lake St., the site of an old Ford auto body shop.

Members of a City Council committee contend the project appears too dense. So far, they have refrained from approving it. Instead, they are pushing for a smaller project.

Last year, the city approved giving the developer $966,000 from the neighborhood's tax increment financing district, or TIF. In such a district, growth in property tax revenue is earmarked for improvements in that area. As a TIF, the neighborhood is considered "blighted."

In a letter Sunday, Pembroke's lawyer, Michael Roth, told the city that if the city required a smaller project, Pembroke's Island Construction would need the entire $1.7 million in TIF money that it had originally requested.

In May, the city's Zoning and Planning Commission voted 4-2 against the development. Now, the issue is with the council's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee.

Roth said three commission members who seemed supportive of the project in earlier public hearings were absent during the vote.

When the city reduced the amount in TIF incentives from Island Construction's request, the company made up the difference by increasing the price point for the townhomes by 25 percent, Roth said.

The development would not be economically viable with less than 36 units, he said.

"Island Construction cannot risk another increase in the price-point for the units at this location," Roth said in the letter. "Significant project costs would remain the same regardless of this reduction in the number of units."

Moreover, he said, construction and interest rates have increased a lot since the process started more than two years ago.

The council's zoning committee heard the matter at its meeting Monday, but took no action.

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, the committee's chairwoman, Alderwoman Dannee Polomsky, said the panel is focused on the zoning and could not even consider more financing for the developer.

Polomsky said she would not recommend the project as proposed. She said she would not even vote for a proposal with five fewer units, particularly because it was unclear if the commission would have supported it.

"Despite the lack of momentum in moving the project as requested forward, the Committee and the Commission signaled some support for the concept," she said.

The full council has the final say.