With more than 120 apartments and town houses planned for Tinley Park’s downtown area, a major homebuilder is well underway with another large housing development not far away.
D.R. Horton is working on its Oak Ridge development, a mix of town houses and detached single-family homes about a half mile east of the village’s downtown Metra train station on Oak Park Avenue.
The Texas-based company is the nation’s largest homebuilder by volume and is building 162 town houses along with 81 detached single-family homes on 39 acres where Panduit Corp. had a manufacturing operation for many decades.
The planned town houses feature floor plans of 2- and 3-bedroom units with two-car garages, with homes starting at a bit more than 1,700 square feet. Prices start at more than $300,000, according to the company.
With housing developments in several states, Horton has projects underway in suburbs including Elgin, North Aurora, Oswego, Plainfield and St. Charles.
The company had an agreement to buy the Panduit land contingent on approval of plans by Tinley Park, which came in late 2021.
Founded in 1955, Panduit’s electrical and network infrastructure products are used by customers to manage and automate communications, computing, power and security systems in a building or other physical location, according to the company.
Privately held, Panduit in 2010 relocated its global headquarters from the Ridgeland location to a site south of Interstate 80 and east of 80th Avenue in Tinley Park.
The company still maintains a research center, the Jack E. Caveney Innovation Center, on part of the land next to where Horton is building.
Horton said it expects the town houses will appeal to younger professionals, while the single-family homes are likely to be favored by older homebuyers and empty nesters.
The company has said it doesn’t anticipate many buyers with school-age children.
A 3-acre park is also being built, that the developer and village expect will be dedicated to the village’s Park District.
Oak Ridge is not far to the east of the village’s Harmony Square park and outdoor music plaza taking shape just to the north of the Oak Park Avenue Metra station.
West Point Builders plans a five-story, mixed-use building with 63 apartments above commercial space on North Street, east of Oak Park Avenue and to the east of the planned Harmony Square outdoor space, which is anticipated to host music and other events.
To the north, West Point plans 60 town houses on the former site of Central Middle School.
Bordered by 172nd and 173rd streets on the north and south, and 67th Avenue and 67th Court on the east and west, Tinley Park bought the 3.3-acre property from Tinley Park Elementary District 146 in 2005, and the village has long eyed residential development there.
Just to the south of the Metra station, Boulevard at Central Station, already completed, includes 165 apartments at the southeast corner of South Street and 67th Court.
That and the West Point homes are considered part of a broader trend in housing development in the Chicago suburbs, with rental homes clustered near Metra stations and the aim of having housing near commuter rail that could be within walking or biking distance.
While the Oak Ridge project isn’t immediately close to the Oak Park Avenue Metra station, Cook County is at work on road construction projects on 175th Street, Oak Forest Avenue and Ridgeland. Along with more traffic lanes, the work includes a multi-use path, according to the village.
Homes Horton is building would be owner-occupied and not rentals, and the company, in reporting earnings results for the recently ended fourth quarter and fiscal year, said that interest rate volatility is continuing to keep some potential homebuyers on the sideline.
For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company said it recorded revenues of $36.8 billion compared with $35.5 billion in fiscal 2023.
Horton said that it has been starting more homes with smaller floor plans in response to buyer uncertainty.
In reporting earnings, Daniel Auld, Horton’s executive chairman, said that while mortgage interest rates have come down from highs seen earlier this year, it appears some buyers expect rates to fall further in 2025.
The company, which also offers home financing to buyers, said it is using incentives such as mortgage rate buydowns to entice customers.
