A design for a proposed commercial building on Halsted Street was sent back to the drawing board Tuesday, Dec. 9, after two trustees and Village President Richard Hofeld expressed dissatisfaction with its appearance.
The development proposed by Shiner Group at 17725-17727 Halsted St., is the site of the former Arby’s Restaurant. The planned two-unit building currently has one tenant, the bedding company Sleepy’s, under lease.
The building plan was approved by the Homewood Appearance Commission at its Nov. 20 meeting, but commission members expressed similar reservations about the design, according to commission minutes.
Shiner Group and the Village
Homewood)
At issue was the placement of the building’s most attractive features so they would not be visible to the heavy traffic on Halsted Street. The design called for the main entrances and display windows facing east toward the adjacent shopping center parking lot, with windows on the north and south and a mostly uninterrupted wall facing west toward Halsted.
“I can’t support it,” Trustee Jay Heiferman said. “We deserve better on Halsted Street. I think there’s got to be a better design.”
He suggested reconfiguring the building so entrances could be placed on the east, north or south faces of the building “for the thousands of cars that go past on Halsted.”
Architect Jim Wagener, representing Shiner Group, said the narrow dimensions of the lot limited what could be done.
“Putting (entrances) on the east side functionally didn’t work,” he said.
Trustee Ray Robertson and Hofeld agreed with Heiferman’s assessment, and Hofeld suggested tabling the measure until a design with improved appearance on the west side can be submitted.
Contact Eric Crump at [email protected]