The village received six responses to their request for proposals for redevelopment of 2066 Ridge Road and 2024 Chestnut Road, which were presented to the Homewood Village Board at the Dec. 10 meeting.
The window for proposal submissions was eight weeks, from Sept. 25 to Nov. 21. Proposals were open for one or both locations of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development locations. The 2066 Ridge Road property is part of the B-1 zoning district, consisting of retail and restaurants, and 2024 Chestnut Road, the Village Hall parking lot, is part of the B-2 transition zoning district, Homewood Director of Economic and Community Development Angela Mesaros said.
The first proposal is from HCF Homewood for the Village Hall site. The firm is proposing 64 apartments in a four-story building, along with ground-floor interior parking, Mesaros said.
The second proposal is from Granite Realty Partners for the Village Hall site. GRP is proposing 78 apartments in a four-story building with a parking garage to hold more than 100 cars. The parking would be for residents, employees and visitors to village hall, she said.
The third proposal is from Southland Development Authority (with Kaufman Jacobs and Edward Peck Design) for both sites. SDA proposes 85 apartments in a six-story building along with 2,000 square feet of commercial space, plus a plaza and surface parking for the village hall site. For the Ridge Road site, SDA proposes 22 apartments in a five-story building with 2,400 square feet of commercial space, plus an outdoor plaza and surface parking, Mesaros said.
The fourth proposal comes from Holladay Properties. For the village hall site, the firm is proposing 118 apartments in a five-story building with 2,000 square feet of commercial space, along with an outdoor plaza, plus an underground and ground-level parking, Mesaros said.
The proposal is the first for an underground parking that the village has received, Homewood Assistant Economic & Community Development Director Noah Schumerth said.
According to Mesaros, Holladay Properties also submitted a proposal for the Matrix site to eventually acquire property and assemble parcels to build a future “retail-forward mixed-use project.”
The fifth proposal is from the Larger Than Life Foundation. For the village hall site, there would be 20 to 30 workforce-accessible apartments, plus a culinary institute and mental wellness education center, and commercial spaces. For the Matrix site, the foundation proposes an additional facility for classrooms to support culinary, gathering and retail spaces, Mesaros said.
The last proposal is submitted by Far South CDC (Community Development Corporation). For the village hall site, the firm proposes a 72-apartment complex in a four-story building along with a 4,100-square-foot restaurant and 10,000 square feet of commercial space, plus two public courtyards or plazas. For the matrix building, the company suggested 39 apartments with a 3,300 square feet rooftop restaurant, and 7,000 square feet commercial with surface parking, she said.
“This one had the least parking out of any of them and the most commercial,” Mesaros said.
“I’m really excited that we got six really strong bids like that, it speaks well of the interest in our town,” Trustee Phillip Mason said.
“Homewood is hot for development right now,” Village Manager Napoleon Haney said.
According to Schumerth, the next step is to review the proposals and carefully evaluate them, taking parking into consideration. They will be assessed based on basic feasibility and meeting certain codes, plus the overall impact it would have.
Now that the initial proposals have been received, the village is required to solicit for alternative bids because the properties are in the proposed Harwood TIF district. Schumerth said at the Jan. 13 meeting the board will consider adopting the redevelopment plan for the new TIF district.
Proposal selection is expected to take place at the Feb. 10 meeting, Schumerth said.
