In March, the Village Board of Trustees voted to adopt an ordinance for a real estate sale and development agreement for the multifamily dwellings at 364 South Orchard, which paves the way for the Village to sell the land to the developer, Access South Cook (Home First, LLC)

Assistant Director of Economic Planning & Development Andrew Brown said the next step is for the Village and Home First, LLC., to go to closing.

"Once closing happens, Access South Cook will own the land and can begin developing the parcel per the agreed upon development agreement and approved building plans," Brown said. "The soonest we could see construction would be June of this year."

Home First, LLC will convert the former mall parking lot to townhouse-style apartments in Park Forest DownTown. A portion of the 44 units will be set aside for individuals with mobility, sensory, mental health, intellectual/developmental, and all other types of disabilities.

Brown said that since 2002, the goal has been for Park Forest to have more residential development constructed DownTown on the northeast corner of Indianwood Boulevard and Orchard Drive.

Brown added that, in 2002, the Board approved the DownTown Master Plan, which called for condominiums to be built there. In 2008, the Village's Strategic Land Use and Economic Development Plan adopted a policy to zone the area as single-family homes. 

In 2019, a Rental Market Analysis & Development Planning Study recommended 100 units between Main Street and Indianwood Blvd along Orchard Drive .

Last year, the Board adopted the latest DownTown Master Plan, which recommended multifamily and single-family attached as residential in the same area. The developer met all the Village's zoning and building requirements to get where they are today. 

Brown hinted this isn't the only development that could be coming to the Village.

"Last Monday, the Board approved a special use permit for a development at the northwest corner of Main Street and Cunningham," Brown said. "This development is proposing 16 apartments in two brick three-story buildings."

Brown continued, "The development at 364 S Orchard also went through this process and received their Special Use Permit in December 2022. Needless to say, the development on Main Street and Cunningham is in the early stages of obtaining all of its required zoning entitlements."