By Patrick Ferrell Special to the Daily Southtown The area around New Lenox's second Metra station near Laraway and Cedar faces a large overhaul unlike any other development in the village. GV Development is proposing a 236-acre, transit-oriented development that one trustee dubbed a city within a city. The development would straddle the railroad tracks north of Laraway Road and include some commercial and single-family homes south of Laraway, west of the tracks.

More than half of its 949 residential units would be condominiums. The rest would be split between single-family homes, brownstones and townhomes. There's also 50 acres of commercial development planned.

The entire project, called Village Station, will be marketed to folks who take the train to downtown Chicago for work. "There's a lot of opportunities for pedestrians to get around, architect Chuck Smith said in describing to the village board the tree-lined, sweeping promenade in the middle of the development. That's exactly what this is built for.

We've clearly got a recipe for success here, Trustee Ray Tuminello said. This is exactly what I envisioned for the area. The project was approved by the village a few years ago, but Smith brought it back before the village board recently with some changes.

Those include a redistribution of some housing types and changing once-planned curved blocks into straighter, more urban designs. "One of the fundamentals of a transit-oriented development is short, walkable blocks," Smith said. The major retail portions, including the most concentrated residential areas, will be within two blocks of the village's SouthWest Service line Metra station.

Trustee Nancy Dye, who usually advocates for larger, estate-type lots, said she liked the design of the project but was concerned the village would set a precedent for smaller, more compact housing. Dye also said the success of the project depends on whether Metra increases the number of trains it runs on the line. Currently, two run to Chicago in the morning and two return in the evening.

"If you take a half day (off work) to get home because one of your kids is sick, you're stuck, she said. "You can't get home on this line." Smith said Metra was very excited for the project and would likely increase the number of daily trains once demand increases, something the project undoubtedly will do.