Car condo project pitched for Lake Zurich would include clubhouse, luxury car dealership
The developer of the Sanctuary of Lake Zurich residential community wants to build a different kind of condo project in town.
Luxury still would be the watchword but these units would be used to store classic and rare cars, some worth millions of dollars. And there is a ready market, says Romeo Kapudija.
“It’s shocking to me how many rare cars are out there and how much they’re valued at but this is a very popular business model right now and type of development and they're selling out across the country,” he explained to the Lake Zurich village board this week during a courtesy review of Luxe Corsa Car Condominiums.
Courtesy reviews are nonvoting sessions to give developers a sense of whether their proposal could work in town and usually include suggestions should they decide to proceed with the official approval process.
In this case, Kapudija's Miller Street Partners and Katie Lambert, partner in OKW Architects of Chicago, are pitching a car condo development for 20 acres known as the Calabrese property on Route 12, south of Old McHenry Road and north of Miller Road.
The proposal features 121 luxury garage condos, a high-end boutique car dealership and clubhouse. Developers propose to voluntarily annex the unincorporated property into the village.
As planned, each condo building showcases a racetrack-themed mural. The smallest would fit four cars and the largest six to eight cars with a maximum total number of 300 to 400, he added.
The development would be gated and the assets protected 24 hours a day by an advanced security system and on-site personnel.
A racing lifestyle-themed clubhouse with a large event space for private and corporate gathering and including racing and golf simulators, a fitness training center, private conference rooms and spa would anchor the development.
“We want this to be a really aesthetically beautiful experience,” Lambert said. “We don't want this to look like a self-storage facility.”
Kapudija is a Lake Zurich resident who has developed residential projects throughout the Chicago area and is involved in other projects in the village. He said he is considering two other car condo projects elsewhere and Luxe Corsa Car Condominiums would be the flagship.
“We're really focusing on designing a space that feels special and unique (and) doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Chicagoland area,” Lambert added.
Kapudija said the stored vehicles, for the most part, would be high-end collectible cars many of which are not driven.
“I think it would be something neat to have in our area,” said village Trustee Marc Spacone.
Trustee Greg Weider suggested meeting with neighbors to address potential concerns or misconceptions.
Kapudija said the market is hot for these types of developments, referencing Iron Gate in Naperville and another planned in Barrington as examples of their popularity.
Iron Gate Motor Condos was among the first in Illinois to offer space exclusively for classic, collector or exotic vehicles. Ground was broken on 50 acres near Interstate 88 and Route 59 in 2014.
“Proof of concept didn’t exist when I started,” said commercial builder, car enthusiast and founder Tom Burgess. “I had to go out of state and bring in people who could explain it” to city officials.
Popularity fueled expansion to include 40,000 square feet of auto-related retail.
“It turned into more than just the condos,” he said. “There’s a huge car community in Chicagoland. It’s deep and broad. It’s amazing.”
In Barrington, MotorCave Auto Suites is part of a proposed $90 million, mixed-use project within the village’s “Golden Triangle.”