When veterinary surgeon and investor Claude Gendreau bought the 108-year-old Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood six years ago, it was because he fell in love with its historic clubhouse.
But three years ago, when he bought the former Bank of Homewood building to convert into a boutique hotel, he saw the purchase from a different perspective.
"As far as the hotel goes, I think the train station will be very important," Gendreau said. "It will be a huge asset for the hotel to have that train station there."
With the Homewood Metra and Amtrak stations less than 300 yards away, Gendreau sees potential for those who want to enjoy Chicago during the day but enjoy a quiet retreat at his La Banque boutique hotel at night.
Just across the state line, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District is gathering funds to undertake an ambitious $1.2 billion improvement and expansion program that includes developing neighborhoods around South Shore train stations.
Northwest Indiana cities and towns should be carefully examining what has been accomplished in communities like Homewood, as they lay plans to capitalize on the South Shore's investment with new housing, shops and businesses, according to NICTD General Manager Michael Noland.
"There are things they thought would be slam dunks that didn't work and other things that looked difficult but did work," said Noland, who formerly worked as general counsel at Metra.
In traditional downtown areas like Homewood's, transit-oriented development is generally more expensive than in the open areas where many newer Metra stations are now located, according to Yonah Freemark, a manager at Chicago's Metropolitan Planning Council specializing in transit-oriented development.
But it can be successfully accomplished with careful planning, incentives and business people who have the vision.
"Homewood is just a great example of all this, because it has a stable downtown compared to many other municipalities," Freemark said.
Gendreau can attest to the expense part. What started as a $4 million renovation and conversion project for the La Banque hotel had escalated to $5.3 million at last count, with a grand opening slated for June 6.
Also included in Gendreau's business plan is a restaurant, La Voute, headed by chef Dominique Tougne, of Chez Moi in Chicago. And Gendreau already has a ready-made customer base of wedding guests who use the historic Ravisloe clubhouse for receptions on the other side of the train tracks.
Homewood has helped defray expenses for businesses locating near the Metra and Amtrak stations with funding from the downtown's Tax Increment Finance District, according to Village Administrator Jim Marino.
Gendreau's project was granted $900,000 from the TIF district. Another recipient designated at about the same time was Grape & Grain Co., which recouped about $42,000 from the TIF district to defray an investment that will stand at about $1 million when its new expansion is completed, according to owner Ron Khalaf.
Many train commuters are regulars at Grape & Grain, enjoying its selection of more than 600 craft beer varieties and more than 200 wine labels, Khalaf said. And when there are events such as concerts in downtown Chicago, people taking the 40-minute train ride into the city often grab a brew to drink on the way. And when they get off the train at night they come in for a nightcap.
"The train generates a lot of business for us," Khalaf said.
Sometimes it takes more than a train station to generate business. In Orland Park, the owners of Hienie's McCarthy's restaurant and catering on 143rd Street say they have never realized much benefit from the Metra train station just a few hundred feet away.
Commuters simply want to get home at night and almost never stop in, said co-owner Tami Johns as she prepared food on a recent morning.
But the new development springing up near the train station is a different matter. Hiene's McCarthy's is enjoying some new customers thanks to Ninety7Fifty, a five-story, 295-unit luxury apartment building that opened adjacent to the Metra station two years ago.
“The apartments, they are helping us,” said Johns. ”We get business from them and we deliver, so that is a convenience for them.”
Hiene's McCarthy's, with more than half a century in the region and 37 years at its current location, expects business to improve even more when the 120,000-square-foot University of Chicago Medical facility is built adjacent to the Metra station, Johns said.
Simply being within sight of a Metra station can be a blessing in its own right, according to Fred Sierzega, co-owner with his wife of Suzie's Hallmark store, in Homewood.
In business for 42 years in Homewood, for the first 29 years Suzie's Hallmark was on Ridge Road out of sight of the train station. Thirteen years ago the Sierzegas moved the store to Harwood Avenue within sight of the Homewood train station and the Metra and Amtrak trains that stop there.
"They would go by before on the train and never knew we existed," Sierzega said. "But now if they're on the train they see us right out the window and come back sometimes and look."