The former site of Mount Prospect’s police and fire headquarters is enjoying new life as a luxury apartment complex.
Mount Prospect officials and developers held a ribbon cutting last week for HQ Residences, a six-story building located at Northwest Highway and Maple Street.
The HQ Residences is a luxury apartment development on the former location of the Mount Prospect police and fire headquarters.
Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
Guests were led on a tour of the building, which includes 88 luxury rental units, among them six townhouses with garages, nine studios, 62 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom apartments.
The mixed-use development also offers 3,500 square feet of retail/restaurant space. A restaurant announcement is still in the works.
Tom Lowe of T2 Capital Management talks with Mount Prospect Trustee William Grossi, left, and (to Grossi’s left) Mayor Paul Hoefert at the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the HQ Residences.
Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
Developers bought the former police and fire headquarters for $2 million. The village now has its police headquarters at 911 E. Kensington Road and fire headquarters at 111 E. Rand Road.
There is at least one telltale sign, however, that this once was a fire headquarters. You can see stripes on the street indicating where the rigs came out.
In addition, its former use is commemorated with a plaque from the former headquarters building adorning the mantle of the ground floor lobby/resident lounge.
The $35 million project was a three-pronged effort involving T2 Capital Management, Hamilton Partners and the Harlem Irving Companies.
The view into downtown Mount Prospect from one of the apartments at the HQ Residences.
Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
Tom Lowe, director of acquisitions and development at T2 and a Mount Prospect resident, said amenities include a fitness area, an outdoor lounge and “the only pickleball court downtown.”
Along with the new construction, the developer kept the old garage used by the police department and renovated it.
HQ Residences is yet another example of how downtown Mount Prospect has evolved into an incubator of transit-oriented luxury apartments with ground floor retail and restaurant components.
Lowe has been involved in two of the other developments — 10 North Main Apartments and Prospect Place.
The ground floor of HQ Residences has the feel of a luxury hotel — there is even a message board carrying a Metra timetable.
“This is transportation oriented,” Lowe said. “You couldn’t get any closer to the train, right?”
So far, Lowe said, the response has been healthy.
“We started leasing essentially July 4,” he said. “We’re 50% (leased) already.”
Mayor Paul Hoefert at last Wednesday’s ribbon cutting noted the units added in the current wave of new apartment developments, such as 10 North Main and 20West. Hoefert said there now are “more than 700 new living opportunities” in downtown, supplementing existing condominium stock.
The new residents, he said, are “creating a vibrancy in our downtown that we never had before.”
