MAYBVM

152 153 Register of HistoricPlaces in 1985. Lansing’s current population is approximately30,000 and today,in addition to being a bedroomcommunity of Chicago,theVillage has a significant retail base,and is also home to some light manufacturing and distri- bution companies.TheVillage has a viable downtown with lots of old shops and the newlycompleted Park Plaza,located on the site of an old railroad line at the southwest corner of Ridge Road,theVillage’smain thoroughfare,and BurnhamAvenue,that hosts a farm- ers’market during summer months. Recently,Lansing has embarked upon several re- development projects,which,according toVillage Manager,Dan Podgorski,are designed to be“desti- nation drivers; something to bring people,not just Lansing residents,but people outside of Lansing to our community.”Themost prominent among them is an outdoor concert venue called FoxPointe.“It’s being de- veloped on a site that used to house a business called FoxHome Lumber,”Podgorski continues.“When the Village purchased that old rail line,we also acquired that piece of property that FoxHome Lumber used to operate on.We turned down other proposals to devel- op it,becausewe felt it was going to be significant to the future redevelopment of downtown.It was such a significant piece of property–it’s onlya fewacres, but it was right in the heart of our downtown,andwe felt it was going to have significant municipal value LANSING, ILLINOIS as some sort of a gathering place,and that’s what it turned into.In the last several years,there’s been an Autumn Festival that’s developed in that area,and the last administration adopted some plans to turn it into a concert venue.Plans were drawn,bids were awarded, and contracts signed.” A$5million project,FoxPointe began construction in June 2017,and should be completed in time for the Village’s traditional Autumn Fest,this year.The venue includes an outdoor amphitheater,an open air pavilion, a concessions building,and bathrooms.The pavilion will be able to hold 250-plus people,and the amphi- theater will accommodate over 2,000 in a lawn-type setting.“It’s probably themost significant investment theVillage hasmade in redeveloping a piece of our own property for the benefit of our residents and,what we hopewill be,increased attraction to businesses in our downtown area,”Podgorski explains. “Peoplewill come here and enjoy the concerts and other performances that we expect to have and then, hopefully,they’re going to eat in our restaurants and they’re going to stay in our hotels and stop for a drink or two in some of our bars,”he adds.“We’re also hoping that this is going to be the type of driver that’s going to appeal to entrepreneurs; we’re hoping to attract addi- tional restaurateurs andmaybe somemicro-brewery andwine bar type owners to bring their businesses to our downtown.” PATTY EIDAM MAYOR DAN PODGORSKI VILLAGE MANAGER