Edens Plaza Pediatric Care Center Approved By Wilmette Board

WILMETTE, IL — The Wilmette Village Board voted Tuesday to approve a special use permit and zoning ordinance allowing a pediatric medical center at the Edens Plaza shopping center. The planned facility will be operated by NorthShore University Health System and Advocate Health Care in a two-story 30,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by the Carson's Furniture Gallery. Before trustees voted unanimously to give the plan the green light, village staff incorporated conditions aimed at ensuring the larger Carson's space would remain occupied by a revenue-generating retail store or hotel.

"The success of Edens Plaza is good for the community, and it's not just about sales tax, it's about having a vibrant retail center nearby where the residents can take advantage of the shopping that's there," Village President Bob Bielinski said. "Good retail is a positive park of all communities."

Assistant Village Manager Michael Braiman said staff was focused on replacing the main former Carson's space with a large retailer or a hotel to generate revenue for the village. Although medical use does not bring in as many tax dollars, the pediatric care center deal allows the village to apply some leverage to make sure the long term goal of retail at the larger site could be realized.

"In particular, restricting all other uses to retail or restaurant, as well as restricting dollar stores or resale shops is a big advantage for the village moving forward," Braiman said. "Staff's perspective is that we're in a much stronger position to see that large retailer or that hotel come to fruition than we are today." He said tax revenue from Carson's had been declining every year, and it was reasonable to assume that whatever business replaced it would be more successful.

The land underneath the Carson's space is owned by the company's bankrupt parent company, while the rest of the shopping center is owned and leased out by Edens Plaza, LLC. Company representative Bob Fink said the firm had been in discussions with village staff for more than a year as the retailer lurched toward bankruptcy. He said it was important to fill vacant spaces quickly to convince other leaseholders to renew.

"Vacancy breeds decay and more vacancy." Fink told trustees at their Sept. 25 meeting, pointing to the nationwide trend of shopping centers, especially with two-story big box retailers, hit by a shrinking retail consumer market. "Retailers have a choice today, and they're going to go where the energy is," he said.

"The worst thing that we believe we can do is not take advantage of the opportunity we have with NorthShore right now," Fink said. "The worst thing we can do is allow the center to stagnate, have more vacancy and get the implication it's decaying. We need to create the perception in the marketplace that Edens Plaza remains the go-to destination on this corridor."

Fink said the plaza was running with vacancies less than 5 percent and had been able to replace a former Border's with a Walgreens and Sports Authority, which also subsequently went bankrupt and left another 15,000-square-foot vacancy at the plaza. He said the pediatric care center would help all the other tenants at the plaza, especially the drugstore, and there were larger format retailers that would be a good fit for the main department store building.

"The approach that we're taking here protects the village, because I think that we're in agreement that we want to retain the retail character of the center. We don't want to turn it into an office park," Bielinski said. "We're putting some fairly severe restrictions on the landlord to incent them to get something done on that site, and we are also making a concession here for the medical use on the first floor." Plus, he said the medical center could wind up bringing patrons from outside the village who would bring sales tax dollars.

Advocate and NorthShore would be partners in a joint $28.6 million project, Pioneer Press reported last month. It would employ up to 100 support staff and dozens of doctors. The plan was recommended unanimously Sept. 5 by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Trustee Senta Plunkett said she received more questions from constituents about the future of the Carson's space than any other topic. But unlike the 160,000-square-foot department store, the former furniture store was usually mostly empty anyway, she said.

"A pediatric health care society might be a good location. It kind of adds to the family character that is already Edens Plaza, with the Big Blue Swim School and the KidSnips and the eating establishments and even the Walgreens, I can see that as a family area," Plunkett said. "So I'm hoping that this adds to that and that that will help us attract something to the Carson's retail store that will be no longer that adds to the character of our community."

Trustee Dan Sullivan, who removed the approval of the permit from the consent agenda so trustees had a chance to discuss it, expressed concern that Edens Plaza would lose its predominantly retail character.

"This is one of the premier spots in Wilmette," Sullivan said. "We are taking it from what is now a majority retail. We're lessening that percentage."

Trustee George Pearce said the conditions added to the deal were fantastic and indicated confidence there was a suitable future retail use for the main former Carson's space.

"The fact that the landlord is willing to agree to pretty tough conditions, I would sense, I think they also feel that retail is viable as a goal. That to me is encouraging," Pearce said.

Watch the Sept. 25 Wilmette Village Board meeting »

Related:

• Edens Plaza Carson's Space Could House Pediatric Care Center
• All Remaining Carson's Stores Closing Wednesday
• Edens Plaza Carson's Could Close By Year's End
• Children's Hospital Opening Northbrook Outpatient Surgical Center