Virgil development newsVirgil development newsKane County Chronicle
November 2, 2005
By ROALD HAASE
VIRGIL -- It does not possess it now, but in 10 years, Route 47 might have the look of a Randall Road.
The prediction arrived Tuesday, compliments of Geneva-based real estate broker Mark Allen. He said developers are assembling the land packages to make his forecast a reality.
"That Route 47 corridor is going to be the next Randall Road," said Allen, of Geneva-based A.L. Allen & Sons Inc. "The developers on Route 47 are the same (as those along Randall)."
He hinted that the growth might spread west of Route 47, too. That would seem to put it at odds with Kane County's year 2030 Land Use Plan, which shows much of the county's western third remaining in farm uses 25 years from now.
Allen's outlook was a reference to the intensive retail and commercial uses that have sprouted all along Randall, from Aurora north through Kane County and into McHenry County.
Route 47 probably will follow that example, Allen suggested. He said, however, there are reasons such an arrival might be delayed.
"Again, in order to see this expansion, you really need sanitary (sewer) systems, you need willing players, you need a willing village," Allen said. "There is an anti-growth attitude out there."
Allen referred to recent incorporation efforts in central and western Kane County.
People in townships such as Campton and Virgil are afraid of the kind of development that has swept along Randall in eastern Kane, Allen said: they seek a mechanism to slow the growth seen in large cities such as Elgin.
Another real estate broker agreed there are concerns among western Kane residents. As an example, Liana Mirea said she is attempting to find buyers for 10 acres along Route 64, a few miles west of Route 47 in Virgil Township. The property is listed at $999,900, or about $100,000 an acre, said Mirea, founder of Glendale Heights-based American Commercial Real Estate Inc.
The property carries an agricultural zoning and would require rezoning to turn it into a commercial or retail package, Mirea said.
"It's still a pretty quiet area," Mirea said. "Nothing is really booming. A lot of people are scared that St. Charles (development) is moving west. Route 47 is like a barrier. Who's going to have the courage to go across 47? It's like you open a different kind of door."
Yet Mirea said it is "just a matter of time" before the area west of Route 47 opens to development. She called the $100,000-an-acre figure for the Route 64 acreage "a very reasonable price compared to other properties in the area."
Mirea cited in comparison 6 acres closer to Maple Park, which she said carries a $2 million price tag. According to Mirea, her firm has consulted with Virgil Township officials about the potential for commercial development in the township.
"A lot of people in that area don't like to see that kind of development," Mirea said. "But the development is going that direction."
Allen said developers are putting together concentrations of land adjacent to existing villages that sit astride Route 47.
"In Yorkville (in Kendall County) right now, the big production guys have bought the land," he said. "The new subdivisions are 1,000 units and they are pedestrian oriented. There is multi-modal transportation within the subdivisions, (and) there is recreation, and there are four or five different styles of price ranges."
Elsewhere, major commercial growth already is in the works for Route 47 in Sugar Grove and Elburn.
Speaking of the effort to create an incorporated village of Campton Hills, Allen said "that doesn't stop (growth), but it certainly delays it. They are intimidated, especially, by the huge, new Elgin Sanitary District expansion."
"That's why there is an incorporation effort there, to try to control that," Allen added.