High Street Residential Plans Apartments in West Suburban Chicago

Downers Grove, Ill.—High Street Residential has acquired a 0.87-acre site for the construction of Maple&Main, a mixed-use transit-oriented development in Downers Grove, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago. The project will include 115 apartment units and about 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail or restaurant space.

The development is a consolidation of a three-parcel land assemblage, including a single-family home, office building and municipal parking lot. The site is within walking distance of the Main Street commuter rail station that serves Downers Grove. Construction is expected to begin in early next year, and the property will be ready for occupancy in 2Q 2018.

Maple&Main will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Common amenities will include a pet spa and bike lounge in the basement, Wi-Fi coffee lounge on the first floor, a fitness center, yoga studio, club room, chef kitchen and resort-style pool deck with an outdoor kitchen on the second level. There will be a sky deck on the sixth floor with unencumbered views of the surrounding area.

There will also be green aspects to the property, according to High Street Residential. High-efficiency plumbing fixtures will decrease consumption of water, and kitchens will be equipped with Energy Star stainless steel refrigerators and dishwashers. Forced air systems and return air are designed to be balanced, and thus provide consistent air temperature and quality throughout the property.

Metro Chicago, including many of its larger suburbs, has a tight apartment market, and developers are responding. According to Marcus & Millichap, developers will complete 7,500 new apartments this year, the greatest period of construction since 2000 by nearly 1,300 units. In 2015, metro Chicago recorded a gain of more than 5,800 rentals.

Metrowide vacancy rate will fall 10 basis points to 3.7 percent by the end of this year, driven by further tightening in the suburbs, the company predicts. Last year, positive net absorption of more than 6,600 units pushed vacancy down 40 basis points.

ESG Architects is the project architect on Maple&Main and Carlson Construction the general contractor. High Street Residential vice president David Paino will oversee the development, while CBRE’s Jacob Dell will handle leasing the retail space.