Village trustees unanimously indicated recently they would support planned development zoning to allow Euclid Terraces LLC, a partnership between Northfield, IL-based Focus Development Inc. and Skokie, IL-based Taxman Corp., to allow for a 522-car garage, 37 town houses, a 32-unit condominium building and 18-unit apartment building with 6,000 sf of retail space on the first floor. Most of the project would be built east, and directly behind, a row of office and retail space on Oak Park Avenue between North Boulevard and Lake Street. The parcels are currently used as a 268-car municipal parking lot. Final approval of the project is expected March 6, with completion of the garage expected before winter. Construction of the condominium is slated for this summer with the town houses to follow after the garage is built.

However, a parcel at the southwest corner of Lake Street and Euclid Avenue includes the Tasty Dog restaurant, which according to the Focus/Taxman proposal, would make way for the four-story retail and apartment building. However, the building's owner has sought $900,000 while Focus/Taxman's best offer has been $475,000. The village has threatened to condemn the property under its eminent domain powers to make way for the development, which is projected to generate an additional $650,000 a year in property and sales tax revenue.

Although several residents expressed support of the project, friends of the property owner and operators of the restaurant weighed in against it during a recent five-and-a-half-hour public hearing. In addition to questioning the need to relocate or buy the property from Greg Frigo, residents also objected to the proposed density of the development as well as zoning variances granted to the developers. Among the objectors were real estate professionals, including a commercial broker, appraiser, urban planner, architect and former developer.

"It'll look nice," concedes appraiser and broker Richard Williams of Elmhurst, IL. "But your foresight isn't there," he told trustees. "You're seeing dollars...You're not fixing anything here. I see these stores come and go."

"With greater density we'll get parking problems, we'll get parking problems and we'll get security problems," says former developer Bud Ipema.

The project would be designed by Antunovich Associates, whose portfolio includes the Baltimore Power Plant, the award-winning conversion of the Reliance Building in Downtown Chicago into the Burnham Hotel, Chicago public libraries and a parking garage at DePaul University that would be a model for the Oak Park structure. Taxman is a retail developer, with projects in Oak Park and neighboring River Forest. Focus is an in-fill residential developer, with projects in mature, upscale suburbs such as Evanston, Lake Forest and Winnetka.

"We think this is the right scale for the community," says Joseph Antunovich.

The development team was chosen by the village last year from a field of four. "Each of the proposals had their strong points, but the Focus/Taxman approach demonstrated a real understanding of the community," saiysMichael Chen, Oak Park's development services director. "This proposal is relatively low-density and will have the least disruption on parking during construction. It also can be built in phases, which will reduce disruption in the neighborhood."

Tim Anderson, president of Focus Development, agreed to set aside "one or two" of the apartments for Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) tenants. Village trustees sought housing that would meet the needs of all income levels.

The Euclid Terrace site is located immediately north of a Metra commuter rail station as well as the Chicago Transit Authority Green Line, which developers say may draw residents who are more reliant on mass transit than their cars.