Preliminary Purple Hotel plans unveiled

by KEVIN GROSS

The Lincolnwood Village Board of Trustees at its Committee of the Whole meeting on June 5 discussed concept plans for redeveloping the former Purple Hotel site at 4500-4560 W. Touhy Ave.

Representatives from Tucker Development Group said that the plan calls for three structures including a retail building near the southwest site corner, a possible 148-room hotel, commercial or retail space near the site’s north boundary, and a large, mixed-use building on the southeast corner with first-floor commercial uses underneath a second-floor parking garage and four upper floors containing 300 one- and two-bedroom luxury rental units surrounding a residential courtyard and a pool.

Plans also show the site bisected by a driveway connecting Lincoln and Touhy avenues and 300 surface-level parking spaces, as well as a community boulevard and green space abutting Lincoln.

Group founder and chief executive officer Richard Tucker said some retailers have indicated interest but that the final retail footprint could vary widely from the current projections of 109,000 square feet, and that the possibility of alternative use options versus a hotel remains in question.

Regarding financing Tucker said, "We definitely want to renew and expand and extend the (Lincoln-Touhy) Tax Increment Financing District. And we want to understand how the residential plan feeds into the TIF district."

Community development director Steve McNellis said that he expects final project plans and approvals to be ready before the end of this year.