http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ Discussion Forum for Riverside Illinois en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:03:16 +0000 http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/development-vs-businesses#post-6041 Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:58:48 +0000 spatny 6041@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>I am just looking at what is going on. They are going to "patch" the stucco, not remove it. The canopy is going o be removed, I was told. The entrance to the restaurant space (old Chew Chew) is going to be moved up in front of the doors to the arcade itself, which will be locked, I was told. The interior arcade space will be accessible only to the tenants upstairs, so I don't understand where the rest rooms will be that the restaurant space uses. The add on space on the east, where the dry cleaner was located, is evidently to be part of this "restoration." I don't know what the plans are for marketing it other than the EDC is offering to do an Open House and send letters to people they think might want to rent office space.</p> <p>My opinion is that this space will be marginal at best - no parking having been provided. It will certainly cost more than it did before, perhaps as much as the VC, so who do they think is going to open a restaurant in that kind of space at that kind of money? I hope somebody does, and we had some guys here in town that are inthat business that were supposedly interested, but you know, there comes a point where the fixed costs become too high for the operator to make any money, and nobody wants to invest a bundle to buy themselves a job with a dim future. Restaurants have a voracious appetite for money - overhead is relentless, and the public is fickle. I am not optimistic about either of these sites being successful, especially in the present economic climate. Likewise, I think the people that may have plunked down $10K or so on a condo in the VC are having second thoughts about what they want to pay for the privelege of living there. Certainly, the air is out of the "flipper" market. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/development-vs-businesses#post-6040 Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:34:00 +0000 BigYellowTaxi 6040@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>*************RE: ARCADE BUILDING STAINED GLASS WINDOWS*************</p> <p>Did Spatny make the correct call in the above post stating...<br /> "my problem is that the building exterior is not really getting a restoration back to how it was originally - far from it. The developer was allowed to pick a period he was comfortable with so we will probably get a "massaged" fifties period exterior without the cupola tower, with the stucco, etc."???</p> <p>WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS THIRD HAND INFO... I hope it is false but if not, we may need to rally for the cause of the Arcade's leaded glass windows... Someone told me a few days ago that it was reported to her that someone who was babysitting in the condos just east of the Arcade building had seen workers put stained glass windows into the construction dumpster there. Had I been privy to this info when it occured I would gladly have gone dumpster diving but I believe this may have occured a month or two ago. FYI, presently you can peek into the old Chew Chew from the north side patio windows and see nothing but plywood and 2x4s from the back side of the window space. There are still stained glass windows on Grumpy's side, as Dave's space has yet to be "restored".</p> <p>Spatny, do you or anybody else know if they're going to (or allowed to) do away with the stained glass??? I sure hope not. I hope the above third hand info is wrong. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5812 Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:44:06 +0000 cherylb 5812@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>I will try. I usually don't get home from work until after 7. But this might be worth leaving work early for! </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5811 Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:54:58 +0000 KimJ 5811@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>Cherylb, You should go to the LAC meeting this Thursday night to share your thoughts. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5810 Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:20:23 +0000 cherylb 5810@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>I wonder what the steps are to get something like that off the ground. I will research a bit to see who the horticulturist at Triton is to see if s/he has any interest.</p> <p>Who would I contact in town? I am guessing the landscape committee might be a good place to start. Any thoughts/ideas are appreciated. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5809 Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:29:50 +0000 spatny 5809@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>Great idea CherylB. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5808 Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:45:29 +0000 cherylb 5808@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>I think the idea of student/adult corps is a great one. I wonder if it could even go a step further. Since we are in the Triton school district, and they have a horticulture program, can Riverside be a combined school project - RBHS and Triton - as a way to keep the landscaping in historical perspective and have high school students work with college age students? It might be a nice mentoring program, and a great way to get students interested in their environment by understanding the importance of local native planting vs. invasive species that we see in some garden stores. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5807 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:21:06 +0000 spatny 5807@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>I just learned from an LAC member that the Board put $25,000 into the budget for landscaping for the CBD, on the condition that it be spent for plants and planting, and not wasted on consultants, etc. I propose that the LAC people who know what they are doing figure out what plants (and perhaps trees) they want to put in so that they can be gron for next spring, and that we assemble an adult and student corps of volunteers to work on four Staurdays (or two weekends and go one by one, say starting at the Arcade building and through the planters in front of the Kafka building on the first day, rototilling and augmenting the soil, and then planting those planters first, then the next weekend the ones on the south side of Burlinton down to the post office on the next, then the north side of Burlington on the next, then whatever else is left. This would be under the direction of the two Mikes, and thus, in no longer than one month, we should be able to get those areas cleaned, planted and looking a lot better. If that took $10,000 in planting materials I would be surprised, and that would leave enough to pay for an outside contractor to maintain and water for the rest of the season. We could try and solicit donations or care from the local businesses, but regardless of what that generated, we could have it all done and looking good for next year. I know this might run into some snags but it is, it seems to me, a viable action plan that will result in a great improvement at an affordable price, and won't make an impossible task for the DPW and Mike Collins. People, what do you thinkl? I'm willing to work those four days 9-5, and I'm sure there are others that will chip in. I think a crew of 12-15 persons could easily accomplish this. How about it? I'll also donate the cost of a tree. How about we get sign up list for this and just do it. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5806 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:16:42 +0000 Catherine 5806@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>Yes true. Given that, it seems to me the businesses have the greatest interest in having the CBD landscaped, and that they could make donations to a village fund for that purpose just as citizens make such donations, and just as we maintain the trees on our parkways and sometimes plant them.</p> <p>I am hoping this will be part of the discussion at the Nov 1 Special Meeting of the LAC on CBD Landscaping. </p> http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic/your-taxes-into-developers-pockets#post-5805 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:24:59 +0000 spatny 5805@http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/ <p>The worst is that they don't want to fund the landscaping of the CBD, but want to attract businesses. If the landscaping would take $100K over three years, for example, including maint., then that is far less than they threw away on Kane McKenna and the TIF. If the VC developers had to pay $25K a space for what they didn't provide, they would have either built fewer units or put in in the prices they set, which seem to have been calculated to get the max from the project. Now the Board cries we are going broke, and then agrees to spend all this dough to provide 15 spaces. When they sold the alley for $15 K to the developers it would have parked nine cars, so at $25 K a pop they lost again. And that alley space was turned into four times as much by building four floors over it - for which they will probably charge close to a million - or more. The Board and our Manager and consultants are brain dead on development. No one in their right mind would do these deals, and now the taxpayers will have to foot the bill. I hope that gives them great satisfaction when they go by those empty stores. </p>