Investing in Waukegan: Building new homes, creating new jobs and boosting local business.

We’re investing $36 million to create a nice neighborhood of 65 detached single family homes of 2500-3000 square feet each.   This will be a great neighborhood for families and young professionals, and the improvements in infrastructure that will benefit all residents in the area will all come at no cost to the city.

There has not been a new residential development in our area in over 7 years.   That’s a long time for the city, local business and taxpayers to lose out on the impact of construction jobs, more people to spend with local businesses and additional property and other tax revenues.

In fact, you could say there are nearly 100 million reasons to support this project—we estimate that over the first 10 years, this new development will generate $99,000,000 in overall economic value including new city tax revenues, new jobs, new business and other financial benefits to those who live and work in and around the community.

We’ve come back with a smart plan for this area that responds to past concerns about congestion, density and strained infrastructure with a development that we’re confident everyone can get behind and will serve as the symbol of a positive, new era of development and growth for the Waukegan and Libertyville area.

Annette Langelund is a local business leader.  She is a partner in a staffing company trying to help put people back to work.   She understands what this means from the jobs and hiring perspective, and recently shared with me her thoughts on the project. “This project will help change the perception of Waukegan and project a more positive image for development of any kind,” wrote Langelund after reviewing the details of our project. “It will send out a signal that Waukegan is ready to move forward, so this development can be a catalyst and/or a start in that direction for other projects. Hopefully it will send out a message that Waukegan is a friendly place when it comes to any type of development i.e. residential or commercial. There is new leadership in Waukegan and we are seeing much more cooperation and positive steps being taken to change in this direction.

What is important to us is to maximize every opportunity for our investment in this project to have local benefit. Tim Marabella of the Lake County Contractors Association, is in among those working hard with us to secure local construction workers and skilled tradesmen for this project. Even more than the good paying jobs that will come with approval of River Glen, he too, sees it as important to our overall future.  “River Glen is a launch for other developers to attempt to come back to Waukegan and begin to work towards reviving it,” Tim has told me.  

We appreciate the public voice of support that we have received from Mayor Motley for this project, as he recently referenced in his progress report letter, “We cannot afford to turn our noses at opportunities that will make our city stronger and better as a place to live, work and visit,” said Mr. Motley. “One such project, that I am 100% behind that is critical for our future, is the new 65 home residential community development along River Road.  I applaud the River Glen developers for listening to the input of residents and business, and preparing to put in front of the city a great plan for nice homes for families and a crucial economic boost to our city-- bringing jobs, supporting local business and delivering much need property tax revenue to our city.   I ask for everyone in the community to take a fresh look at what River Glen Development partners have presented and urge clear and decisive approval by the Alderman.  This project has my support, and should have yours, too.”

Our plan is now filed with city, and you can find out more about it on our web site http://riverglencustomhomes.com/.   Any citizen wanting to know more about the details of this exciting new 65 home project is encouraged to contact me directly through the web site or by calling our offices at 847-996-3200.
 
My partners and I are all long-time residents of the area, we respect and strive to protect and improve the quality of life for all residents, as well as to create River Glen as the perfect neighborhood to raise a family, be close to good schools, great shopping and wonderful neighbors.   We are ready to make the investment, we are committed to working with the city and the alderman to earn all of the necessary support so that we can all stand tall and proud that a new era of positive leadership, growth and responsibility is now underway.