"I'm always fascinated by communities that have balanced their residential and mixed-use appropriately and Bolingbrook has done that appropriately in this location," Randy Podolsky, managing principal of Podolsky Northstar, tells GlobeSt.com. "This is an overlooked area, with extensive residential and accessibility to expressways, and I think this kind of development will work out well here."

The partnership will first begin work on the residential component of the development, constructing apartments in two phases. The first phase, expected to begin this year and deliver in fall of 2010, would bring 84 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The second phase, on which work could begin as early as next year based on demand, would bring another 84 units.

Rental rates will be lower than typical rents in the area, as the project will be funded by the Illinois Housing Development Authority. "These apartments would be for retired folks who have grown up in the community and don't have the same income they used to but want to stay where their kids and grandkids are," Podolsky says.

Podolsky says due to current market conditions, there are no plans to begin spec development of the 170,000 square feet of office planned. However, the firms are hoping to begin work through build-to-suits, considering proposals for spaces of 25,000 square feet and larger. The development could yield a single large building for office, or alternatively, two or three smaller buildings.

Plans are also being finalized for an additional 30,000 square feet of medical office space to be built on the site. The office facilities are planned to be LEED-certified, and could range in size from a single floor to three stories. In any event, asking lease rates would range from $16 to $18 per square foot net, Podolsky says.

Promenade Place is being developed in the Interstate 355 submarket, where Podolsky cites recent success in other developments such as the Tallgrass Corporate Center, where half a million square feet of office space has been leased in recent years. "Their project finished up recently with a lot of leasing velocity," Podolsky says. "We see Bolingbrook as typically not having a huge annual absorption, but if you need space in office and want to be there, we'll have the size of building for you."