The Huntley Farmside

              4-H Fair results and photos — see inside Senior Scene — see inside
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Thursday, August 13,1998
The Himtley Faimside
..,„..„„„ A Press Publications newspaper ar servinq the Huntlev communitv
Volume 37 Issue 70
Prime makes a mark in Huntley
Steve Brosinski
Press Pubiications
For much of the last decade, the Prime Group Inc., part of a publically-traded company with an estimated value of $5 billion in outstanding stocks, has fine- tuned a strategy that will trans¬ form Huntley from a rural town to a modem master-plan com¬ munity.
In 1989, when the Chicago- based real-estate giant began gathering 2,850 sprawling acres of vacant farm land, Del Webb had plans to build its first north¬ ern Sun City development somewhere else and few people outside of McHenry County could find Huntley on the map.
Almost ten years later, Del Webb has invested millions of dollars into a 1,600-acre active- senior housing development that will forever change the charac¬ ter and size of the village. Some experts predict that Huntley's population could quadruple in 10 years.
While Sun City will someday be home to more than 8,000 seniors, northem Kane County's newest commercial, retail and business centers will be built on hundreds of other acres along the Route 47 corridor.
The two real estate giants have invested $9 million alone in a water well and widening of Route 47, said Bohdan Himiak, vice president of land division. Del Webb how has a waste¬ water treatment plant under con¬ stmction south of Main Street. The village received the title to the well and acres of land with an estimated value of $5 mil¬ lion. Himiak said Prime has plans to drill a second well in the west side of town.
So far, Prime has spent about $50   million   on   developing
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Photo by Steve Brosinski
Phillip Waters (front) and Bohdan Hirniak, vice presidents of land division, stand in front of a model of the Prime Group's plans to develop south Huntley. Del Webb will soon begin construction of homes on 1,600 acres that were bought from Prime. Both companies have poured millions of dollars into the community for infra¬ structure improvements. '
Huntley, Himiak said.
Huntley's proximity to good transportation and the low cost of land attracted Prime to the area, he said.
"Our interests^ in coming to Huntley was a good location, Interstate 90 and the inter¬ change," Hirniak said. "The other item of interest was to the ability to assemble a significant¬ ly large parcel of land."
A prime role in town
Himiak said Prime and the village have a public/private partnership that is intended to foster a well planned communi¬ ty. Prime is hopeful that as part
of this two-way relationship the village will continue to monitor future developers.
As Del Webb gets off of the drawing board and the Huntley Factory Shops continues to grow, Himiak said, the village of Huntley picked a good time to re-examine its comprehensive plan.
The village is in the process of revising its comprehensive plan, a document that is used to set fiiture zoning standards and used as a blueprint for future development.
"We think an item like that (the widening of Route 47 north of Sun City) should be addressed in the comprehensive
plan," he said. "We hope the comprehensive plan will address issues like how will the village handle waste-water treatment and how it will pro¬ vide water supply and handle traffic concems."
Development is important to Prime, Himiak said, so long as it is restrained.
"Growth will come. It's man¬ aging it correctly that matters. How will the village view itself 20 years from now? How does it view itself in terms of size and various other components of a village?" Himiak said.
On the other side of the ledger, the village's commitment
see Prime Group—^page 2
Driver injured in fatal accident remains hospitalized
Steve Brosinslci
Press Publications
The 45-year-old driver of the tractor trailer who was injured in the accident that killed a Woodstock woman on Aug. 6 is in seri¬ ous condition.
Richard C. Simpson, of North Dakota, is hospital¬ ized in the bum unit of St. Anthony's Medical Center in Rockford, hospital spokeswoman Marge Zimmerman said Tuesday.
The accident occurred at about 4:22 p.m., less than a mile south of Kreutzer Road on Route 47,
Simpson was, injured when a northbound 1997 Ford Escort swerved into the path of his southbound 1989 Freightiiner tractor. M. EMane Laseman, 66, of Woodstock, was pro¬ nounced dead at the scene.
One of the two dogs that was in the car with Laseman also died in the accident.
Simpson sustained his injuries when he his truck burst into flames. In an attempt to avoid the colli¬ sion, he drove the tmck off the road and rammed it into trees.
A spokeswoman for the Kane County Sheriffs office said the cause of the accident   has   not   been
see Accident—page 2