Palos Heights, IL

A Calm and Connected Suburban Treasure

An Ease of Lifestyle with Just a Short Hop to the Glamor of Big City Life

Tucked within the southwest suburbs of Chicago, Palos Heights offers an ideal blend of serenity and  small-town charm, with easy access to city conveniences. It is the type of  community where small businesses thrive, and stunning natural landscapes provide a peaceful backdrop to daily life.

Mayor Robert Straz describes, “We have a very heavily wooded area in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. We have some small, independently owned businesses. We’re not a home for a lot of big box stores, but they’re 5 or 10 minutes away. We have a calm community, and a lot of nice families have come here.”

That mix of quiet living and easy accessibility has made Palos Heights a desirable place to call home. Commuters can be in Chicago’s downtown core within half an hour by train, or by car in less than 45 minutes. In addition, Midway Airport is only 15 minutes away, and O’Hare can be reached in under an hour.

Revitalizing Downtown

In the heart of Palos Heights is a downtown undergoing a renewal. Once a classic 1960s suburban shopping district, it has evolved into a vibrant dining and social hub. Downtown’s culinary diversity is a point of pride in the city. Straz shares, “One of the keynote restaurants would be Franklin House. It actually started out in the old days as a Ben Franklin store. He’s taken that and turned it into a very efficient and successful casual restaurant, along with six apartment units above it.”

Across the street, Capri Italian Restaurant is a big draw. “People come from all over the south and southwest suburbs to eat there,” Straz portrays. “We’ve got a very diverse ethnic background as far as the types of restaurants. You can go anywhere from Italian to traditional American food. We’ve got a Greek restaurant, even an Ethiopian coffee shop in town.”

This transformation has brought life back into the district, as diners linger longer and foot traffic increases. “That creates unique problems that did not exist back in the day of the traditional suburban shopping center where people would come in buy a shirt and leave,” Straz admits. “Now they come for an hour and a half and have dinner and stay around and socialize. The parking needs have changed dramatically over the years, so we’ve addressed some of that.”

Economic Development Director Aimee Ingalls shares that the city is planning for the future through a new downtown development plan. She explains, “We’re interviewing consultants to help us with that, just to create a little bit more walkability, give it a facelift. Times have changed, so we just want to make sure that it’s up to what the current market needs.” Plans include additional parking, along with efforts to attract more retail and restaurants. “We’re always looking for niche and unique shops and restaurants to locate down there,” she relays. “So we keep our eye out for those, and we want to elevate the area in order to accommodate them.”

Green Spaces and Trails

Palos Heights is known for its natural setting and outdoor opportunities. The city’s beautiful tree lined neighborhoods are complemented by trails, parks, and forest areas. “We put in new sidewalks on all the major thoroughfares in Palos Heights in the last 20 years,” says Straz. “We also are part of a huge suburban trailway.”

The trails follow the Calumet-Saganashkee (Cal-Sag) Canal, connecting to communities across the region. Straz continues, “Most of it goes through the forest preserves and the like. It’s a very relaxing Sunday afternoon, a bike ride and a stop for dinner.”

At the center of the city’s outdoor offerings is Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanical Gardens, an 85 acre destination that blends recreation, education, and conservation. “This community is so very much into the environment and the outdoors and recreation and exercise. It is just so conducive for that kind of lifestyle,” emphasizes Ingalls. “When people are coming through this  portion of the Cal-Sag trail system, they come right by Lake Katherine. We’re able to leverage the people who are enjoying that trail to also enjoy the nature center. With those two, we get about 100,000 visitors a year.”

Community and Celebration

Palos Heights is alive with community spirit, offering a full calendar of family friendly events that bring residents and visitors together throughout the year. One of the most anticipated is the Kringle Market, a Christmas festival that transforms downtown into a holiday market. “It brings in the 5000s of people to the downtown. That’s a well-attended and popular event that gets better every year,” describes Ingalls.

In the summer months people gather for  the Fourth of July celebration held at City Hall and Community Park. “That, again, brings in thousands of people,” she says. The annual car show is another signature event, bringing over 700 classic cars into the downtown, and attracting thousands of people from across the region. “We like to bring people downtown to experience it and maybe come back later and spend some money,” Ingalls remarks.

Infrastructure and Investment

Forward thinking infrastructure management is a priority in Palos Heights. Straz outlines,  “We have a program for water and sewer, either realigning or replacement. We have had for the last 25 years a program for resurfacing the streets. We hope to resurface every one of the streets every 15 or 20 years, which we’ve calculated is the useful life of a street in our town. So we’ve taken some pride in actually having a formal capital improvement plan to get that stuff done.”

The city also has two TIF districts, one at Lake Katherine, originally there to support the development of the nature center and botanical garden. “Right next to that is a couple of shopping centers and office buildings,” expands Mayor Straz. “We’ve got another TIF in the town, which was done to repurpose a Jewel-Osco building into a brand new building.”   Incentives are also in place to encourage facade and parking lot improvements throughout the community.

On the subject of housing, Mayor Straz says that although Palos Heights is landlocked, there has been reinvestment in the city. “It’s encouraging that we’re seeing a lot of younger individuals who grew up here, and now they’re moving back into town after they’ve had a family and decided they needed to have a place to raise their kids,” he recounts. “What we’re seeing are a lot of the older, smaller, cottage type houses being either torn down or totally remodeled.”

Education, Health, and Safety

Education and healthcare are two major pillars of the community. “We have Lake Katherine nature preserve and botanical garden. We have a golf course. We are home to Northwestern Medicine’s Palos Hospital campus. Northwestern is rated one of the highest ranking hospitals in the United States.”

Strong school systems and medical presence not only serve residents but also attract professionals. “We have two high schools and two grammar school districts, and they are premier districts,” he adds. “We have a great educational system, with a concentration of professionals who can work in a lot of those institutions.”

Public safety is a top concern, and the city is home to two fire departments. “Both are very capable and have great response time and facilities. On the police side, we take pride in our great Police Department, all certified officers,” says Mayor Straz. Palos Heights also operates a Community Intervention Unit to support residents in crisis. Straz details. “We have people who have advanced degrees in social work, so they can respond to mental health crises at a house as opposed to having just an armed officer. They work closely with social service agencies in the area to help and monitor the people who find themselves in those situations.”

Looking Ahead

Moving forward, Mayor Straz says the focus is on the downtown improvements. Attention will also be on the Northwestern Medical Center expansion, which is expected to have a significant economic and community impact. “They’ve got some massive plans, bringing world class activity and healthcare here to the southwest suburbs. That’s going to draw more people, whether it be patients or professionals who work there, into our area,” he conveys.

For Ingalls, the character of the city makes her job easy. “It’s just got that smaller town feel,” she acknowledges. “It’s desirable. It has that calm suburban feeling. However, it is bustling, and it is a hub. That makes it attractive for others to want to be here and synergize with that energy. I don’t have to knock on a bunch of doors to get interest in this community. It’s just there.”

AT A GLANCE

Who: Palos Heights, Illinois

What: A vibrant suburb of Chicago

Where: Cook County, Illinois

Website: www.palosheights.org