Milwaukee Avenue now: exploring the many personalities of the northwest suburbs’ economic hub

Bridget Doyle/triblocal.com staff reporter 02/22/10 11:00 AM 152 hits

From an Indian trail to a highway supported by wooden planks to one of Chicagoland’s most notable avenues, Milwaukee Avenue has seen its fair share of change and growth.

The approximately 40-mile avenue slices diagonally through Chicago’s north suburbs—with the Des Plaines River snaking alongside—currently stretches through Niles, Des Plaines, Northfield, Glenview, Northbrook, Wheeling, Riverwoods, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Gurnee.

Milwaukee Avenue, also known as Illinois Highway 21, serves as a business corridor in each with restaurants, shopping centers and entertainment venues along the highway.

From beginning to end, Milwaukee Avenue is a retail hub, as the highway hosts a variety of small and commercial businesses for each of the suburbs it runs through. The type of businesses and even the very appearance of the avenue shifts as it transitions from one suburb to the next.

However, regardless of the age, location or type of economy along Milwaukee Avenue, all seem to have been affected by the recession in the past two or three years.

As Milwaukee Avenue breaks city limits and transitions into Niles, the highway holds onto the same urban vibe of the city-street preceding it. Traveling north, planes can be seen descending into nearby O’Hare, and mom-and-pop stores, flower shops and older retail shops pepper the street.

The bulk of Niles’ businesses along Milwaukee Avenue boomed in the ‘60s, said Denise McCreery, business coordinator for the city of Niles.

“Our businesses along Milwaukee Avenue are largely mom-and-pop, and have been around a long time,” McCreery said. “They’re struggling, but still holding their own.”

Although some are making it through the tough times, not all Niles businesses have fared the same. McCreery said a few restaurants have closed, including Rossini’s, a 20-year-old Italian restaurant that occupied the high-traffic corner of Milwaukee and Dempster.

Despite retail closings, the city of Niles recently repaved and put brand new streets along the south end of Milwaukee Avenue, McCleery said, and is also working on a beautification project for the area. In the project, streetlights will be painted, sidewalks will be resurfaced and waste receptacles and planters will be distributed throughout the area.

“It’s exciting news, and couldn’t come at a better time,” McCleery said. “Businesses around here need it.”

The 50-year-old Golf Mill Mall shopping is located a bit further Milwaukee Avenue, followed by the villages of Glenview, Northbrook and Northfield.

Hotels, motels and condominiums occupy portions of the road in these suburbs, along with cemeteries and a Sybaris hotel.

Traveling into Wheeling brings Chicago Executive Airport, formerly known as Palwaukee Airport. Each year, the airport logs more than 167,000 take-offs and landings, and serves as the third busiest airport in the state.

Further north into Wheeling, Milwaukee Avenue becomes the home to Restaurant Row, a cluster of more than 20 eating establishments. In this area of the avenue, themed restaurants stand like islands amidst a sea of parking spaces.

National and Chicago-based chains such as Hackney’s, Superdawg, Buca di Beppo, Weber Grill, Claim Jumper and Tuscany lie amongst fast food favorites such as McDonalds and Burger King.

Though Restaurant Row is faring well in early 2010, Peter Vadopalas, director of economic development for the Village of Wheeling, said the dining establishments are currently working to adapt to changes in not only the economy, but also the changing dining habits of its customers.

Remnants of Restaurant Row’s influence remain in Lincolnshire, with large, newer restaurants such as Wildfire and Flemming’s along the highway.

Sherman Kaplan, a food critic for WBBM 780 and North Shore Magazine, said he believes Lincolnshire might be the next big suburb for food connoisseurs to venture to.

“I don’t know there’s much interest to serious diners [on Restaurant Row],” Kaplan said. “I think the interest has moved north to Lincolnshire.”

As Milwaukee Avenue travels through Lake County’s Lincolnshire and into Vernon Hills, big box retailers line either side of the highway. And, in true suburbia form, nearly every store in the long strip mall is of a chain.

John Kalmar, assistant village manager and director of community development for the village of Vernon Hills, said the businesses along Milwaukee have not been exempt from damage in the recent economy.

“The businesses are holding their own, but the village has seen a decrease in the sales tax revenue we’re receiving from retail users along Route 21,” Kalmar said.

In the past two years, Vernon Hills lost an Expo Design, Circuit City, Wicks Furniture and a Linens and Things due to the downturn in the economy. The village is currently discussing what will fill the remaining empty storefronts, Kalmar said.

In Libertyville, past rows and rows of car dealerships, the street narrows into the village’s quaint downtown. The retail shops in this part of Milwaukee return back to the small business type with small bakeries, clothing boutiques and restaurants.

Life on Milwaukee Avenue up in Gurnee is more breathable. A few homes and barns speckle the scene as forest preserves appear on either side of the highway.

As the avenue nears its end, Milwaukee Avenue travels over Interstate 94 with Six Flags’ brightly colored rollercoasters visible in the distance. Down the road at Milwaukee Avenue’s furthermost part, the highway merges and becomes one with Skokie Highway 41.

 
By Bridget Doyle
TribLocal.com Reporter
Wheeling Historical Society and Museum