Set to include 109 luxury apartment units and 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, developer Optima Inc. received final approval last month to build a planned unit development at 1210 Central Ave., less than a year after filing a preliminary application. All but nine of the apartments will be located above the ground floor, while the top floor will include a roof deck and garden.

Optima CEO David Hovey, the project’s architect, contractor and developer, said he was excited to develop another project on Chicago’s North Shore.

“As with each project we design and build, we’re very careful to ensure the buildings respect their environment and have a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood,” Hovey said in a statement.

“This development will be no different, as not only will it deliver the size of homes and amenities residents in Wilmette want, but the exterior design will feature our signature vertical landscaping system and public art component that will enhance the downtown community’s energy and aesthetic.”

Hovey’s Glencoe-based firm has built 1618 Sheridan Road in 1991, Optima Center Wilmette at 1100 Central Ave. in 1997 and Lake Courts at 1925 Lake Ave. in 1998. In 2010, Optima completed the 20-story Old Orchard Woods condominium towers overlooking the Edens Expressway and the Harms Woods Forest Preserve. According to the firm, it has completed 20 projects on the North Shore over the past four decades.

The latest Wilmette proposal first came before the village’s planning commissioners, who voted 5-2 on Feb. 4 to recommend trustees reject the project. The project was then revised with increased setbacks and added public benefits, and on March 10 the village board voted 5-2 to grant preliminary approval to the proposal. Ordinances clearing the way for the project were granted final approval unanimously at the Oct. 27 meeting of the Village Board.

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