Elgin has fresh ideas (and much work to do) to draw new business

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Downtown Elgin have been making changes including changes in parking restrictions to draw new businesses. May 19, 2011 | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: September 29, 2011 12:42AM

Patron-friendly changes in parking restrictions, a campaign to draw new businesses into empty spaces, and the growth of a tech center are among recent developments in efforts to revitalize Elgin’s downtown.

That first issue was addressed Thursday when city staff and Downtown Neighborhood Association members met about improving parking in the center city.

To make it easier to visit downtown and to operate a company there, the city and DNA have been examining downtown’s parking situation, starting with a parking inventory and removing outdated signage.

Other changes being considered include adjusting off-street parking time restrictions and adding “quick spot” parking on downtown streets, DNA Executive Director Tonya Hudson said.

Another meeting will take place within the next few weeks to discuss the proposed changes with downtown business owners and residents and to get more input.

Looking for ‘critical mass’

The night before that session on parking, the DNA hosted a kick-off meeting for its “For Lease or Sale in Downtown Elgin” campaign. It took place in a vacancy above Villa Verone restaurant, 13 Douglas Ave.

Hudson told an audience of about 50 people that the goal of the project is to put new, small, growing businesses into old buildings in order to build a critical mass of workers that can support restaurants, entertainment and retail operations in the downtown. Currently, about 3,500 people work within a 1-mile radius of downtown.

The campaign is budgeted at about $30,000, with the DNA kicking in $6,400 of that. The rest would come from finding corporate sponsors and from owners of vacant downtown properties who decide to take part and who would pay 25 cents per square foot of the space they are trying to fill.

Hudson used the large office above Villa Verone as an example. At 3,300 square feet, it would cost its owner $825 join the nine-month campaign.

For their money, benefits for property owners would include getting sales-related workshops, sprucing up their spaces on a cleaning day, four directly targeted postcard mailings and web-based marketing of For Lease or Sale.

“Ultimately, this should lead to talking to a person, then to filling a space,” Hudson said.

If all goes as planned, there will be a For Lease or Sale open house showcasing participating properties this fall.

DNA member George Hahne, president of Marketplace Media Group, told the crowd that the program had been put off for about a year until the economy improved a bit. Hahne said the mailings would go to 8,500 targeted businesses in 85 ZIP codes encircling Elgin.

Vacancy numbers

To get a better handle on the how much vacant retail and office space there is downtown, during the week of May 9 a company commissioned by the DNA measured vacancies. It found that 8 percent of office space and 18 percent of retail space — about 188,000 total square feet — sits empty in the central business district.

“We had published a 12 percent vacancy rate previously. Last night’s numbers are consistent” because 12 percent “was an average between office and retail,” Hudson said Thursday.

The measuring was done by CoStar Group, whose website states that the nationwide firm maintains “the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information.”

CoStar account executive Tim Madden told the Elgin audience that for the last quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, more than 15 percent of office space in Chicago and more than 8 percent of retail space in the Chicago market is vacant. Nationally, for those same time frames, office vacancies sat at more than 12 percent and retail vacancies were at more than 7 percent.

In another sign of how tough times remain, while talking about loan products available through PNC Bank, Business Banking Officer Marie Gildersleeve noted that the big bank’s three branches located in Elgin have not lent money this year to anyone hoping to open a downtown business.

The Wednesday session also noted programs already under way, with the DNA making city money available to firms looking to move downtown. Those include grants for facade improvements, banners, information technology infrastructure, grease traps for new restaurants, and subsidies to cover interest on existing loans.

The DNA also works with the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce to draw businesses downtown.

In advance of the For Lease or Sale effort, to draw attention to vacant storefronts, some of those spaces will be used to display the soon-to-be-named winning entries from Elgin’s Pop-Up Poetry Contest.

“Programs like this and changes in parking are good steps,” said Tim Solarz, who attended Wednesday night’s meeting. Solarz owns and operates Spacetaste, an art gallery that expanded and moved to 10 Douglas Ave. from shared space at 207 E. Chicago St., where it opened in June 2010.

“I enjoy downtown Elgin for its urban vibe, non-big box, walkable, historic nature,” Solarz said.

Tech center growing

Another group already appears to be having some success drawing businesses back downtown.

Earlier this year, Lasse Ingebretsen started the Elgin Technology Center in the Elgin Tower Building. Ingebretsen said about 120 tech businesses and professionals have signed up as members in the first few months.

“We cover an extensive range of tech areas with some very competent members, and we’re still growing fast,” Ingebretsen said.

According to Ingebretsen, 10 tech companies now have offices in the Tower Building — seven of those on the second floor, which is home to the Tech Center.

“We hope to have 25 tech firms located downtown Elgin by this summer,” he said. “We now have a working library area with free Wi-Fi and two conference rooms. A training facility, live podcast studio and lounge area being worked on.”

One of those small firms working out of the Tower Building is T.G. Consultants, which has two employees and which uses several contractors.

“We market ourselves to small businesses as their local-sourced IT (information technology) department. We have 19 years of professional and certified IT experience,” company owner Trish Glees said.

Glees found out about tech center from a newspaper story in January, and called Ingebretsen shortly thereafter.

“Once I spoke with Lasse, I knew I wanted to be a part of the Elgin Technology Center. The art deco building provides a wonderful place to meet clients and conduct business. Being a tenant is wonderful, and the ability to walk down the halls to speak with IT peers is terrific,” Glees said

According to Glees, on Fridays tech center members who do not have offices there come in to share workspace, “which usually includes a group of us heading to downtown restaurants for lunch. Being located in the Elgin Technology Center also has allowed me partner up with other IT consultants.”

Small tech firms aren’t the Tower’s only new tenants. Family Empowerment Psychiatry and Counseling recently opened an office in the city’s tallest building, which opened during the Great Depression.