The Village of Pleasant Prairie’s Community Development Authority (CDA) is drafting development plans for about 30 acres of village-owned land on property south of Highway 165 and west of I-94. The plans call for a 200-room hotel and conference center, restaurants, corporate offices, small retail stores, a gas/convenience center and a mixed-use facility.
Eventually, the village plans to sell the property for development. Village officials estimate the property will sell for $15-$20 million, and they expect about $30.3 million of development to occur on the property.
The plans that the village is working on outline the size, placement and uses of the proposed buildings along side a redesigned I-94 frontage road. Later, officials will work on an architectural style, design standards and traffic flow plans for the site.
Plans are being drafted now to accommodate the spring construction of an I-94 frontage road. Funding for the work on the I-94 frontage road has already been approved as part of the 2008 budget. The expected cost for the roadwork and infrastructure is roughly $3.4 million. On Monday, the village board approved the sale of bonds to secure funding for this and other work to begin.
"Now is the time to prepare the property in a manner that will facilitate ease of use and a safe pattern of traffic when the area reaches its full potential," said Village Administrator Michael Pollocoff. "With Uline ready to begin work on their new Pleasant Prairie campus, we want to have all of the key pieces in place, including a road layout and a plan for retail support."
Waukegan, Ill.-based Uline Inc. recently announced that it plans to move its corporate headquarters to a 200,000-square-foot office building that it will build southwest of the interchange. The company will also build a 1 million-square-foot distribution center on the site, and later plans to build an additional 500,000 to 600,000-square-foot distribution center there, according Pollocoff. Uline will bring about 1,000 jobs to Wisconsin by 2010. Construction on the new headquarters is expected to start this year.
