Home Builders Presenting Info on Proposed Development to Public Wednesday Night

A national home building company has its eye on the patch of land formerly reserved for Meijer, and will release more information Wednesday night on its proposed concept.

K. Hovnanian Homes, formerly Town and Country Homes, is looking to construct a single-family community called Arbor Trails on the 60-acre plot between and the Green Trails Shopping Center on Maple Avenue.

The developer is holding a “sneak preview” at from 7-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. The developers will present a ‘preliminary land plan and home designs,' as well as answer residents’ questions. The development would include 163 homes, according to K. Hovnanian Homes representative Scott Barenbrugge.

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K. Hovnanian Homes purchased five suburban Chicago communities in 2011, and hopes to bring its reach to another five in 2012, according to Barenbrugge. He said location is a key factor in choosing a community.

"There's certainly some great opportunities in the marketplace, specifically in Lisle and this site," said Barenbrugge. "Lisle is situated near lots of employment, near highways. District 203 has some of the best schools in the state, and [Lisle] ranks very high on our list of great places to build."

Village Manager Jerry Sprecher said the builders have discussed their project with village staff, and while it seems likely they’ll make a formal presentation to the board, they have yet to file any official applications.

“As I understand it, we would expect that they are going to forward an application within a couple weeks or so,” he said.

Meijer Stores L.P. is still the registered owner of the property, according to the Lisle Township Assessor’s Office. Sprecher said the building company will likely operate on a contingent agreement with Meijer during its application process, and the official transition of property would take place upon final board approval. However, Sprecher said the Village is not privy to agreements between the companies.

A legal suit was successful in preventing the superstore from setting up shop roughly a decade ago, according to the Chicago Tribune. While a Meijer spokesman told the Tribune in 2003 that they were still interested in developing the property, they never approached the board with a new project.

Trustees and residents alike have expressed an interest in seeing the property developed, though not as a big box store. Village trustee candidates discussed their during a candidate forum last march. Candidates, including trustees Mark Boyle, Cathy Cawiezel, and Ed Young, agreed that some single-family development would be beneficial to the area. Patch readers of restaurants, multi-family housing, and retaining open space.

This story was originally published on Jan. 11.