Site once pegged for Prospect Hts. arena soon to have warehouses

A light-industrial building will be constructed on the ill-fated arena site along Piper Lane in Prospect Heights, despite a late offer from a developer for another arena project there.

Rosemont-based Panattoni Development Co., which entered an agreement with the city to buy 10.3 acres, said it's going to construct one building for up to three occupants for office or warehouse space.

"The company would be some kind of light industrial like manufacturing, assembly or warehouse," said John M. Pagliari, a Panattoni partner.

"We're not sure how big it'll be since that will depend on who wants it. Some need higher office space, so they'll need more car space."

Acting Prospect Heights Mayor Pat Ludvigsen, who supported the Panattoni sale, said the other interested developer could offer to buy the property from Panattoni to pursue an arena there.

But Panattoni has no plans to sell the land to any other developer, so a warehouse -- and not an arena -- will be operating there this time next year, Pagliari said.

Another developer, Harbour & Barofsky, had recently approached the city with plans to build a practice center for the Chicago Blackhawks, but the city had turned it down, saying it had come too late, since the Panattoni deal was almost sealed, city officials said.

The original proposal in the 1990s was for a multimillion-dollar sports arena in part of the city's Palatine Road tax-increment financing district.

The plan had moved through three administrations, two development companies and millions of dollars in city finances and private investments. But the project never gained enough momentum to move forward.

Any hope for an arena crumbled earlier this year when the city sold about 14 acres of the land to the Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling for a runway protection zone.

Now the city has agreed to sell most of the remainder for more than $4 million, said Pam Arrigoni, Prospect Heights city administrator.

If the sale goes through, Panattoni will start construction in the spring. The building would be open for business by fall.

While the company also builds retail, it decided that site doesn't have enough traffic along that street for that type of use, Pagliari said.

Now there's just one piece of property that was supposed to be part of the Prospect Heights arena at 29 to 33 E. Palatine Road. One vacant building stands on that spot.

"That one is still available if anyone wants to buy it," Arrigoni said.