City of North Chicago Partners With WESTON to Transform Former Brownfield Site

NORTH CHICAGO, IL — February 9, 2011 – Weston Solutions, Inc. (WESTON^®), a leading environmental, redevelopment, and construction firm, today announced the signing of a Letter of Intent with the City of North Chicago to begin the assessment and planning phase of the Sheridan Crossing development located at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Sheridan Road in North Chicago.

Under the terms of the agreement, WESTON will act as Master Developer in partnership with the city, conducting hospitality and retail market studies, preparing a conceptual master plan, and performing environmental and engineering studies related to infrastructure and regulatory assessments. At the request of Mayor Rockingham and the North Chicago City Council, the WESTON team will emphasize community outreach meetings to solicit input from local residents and businesses.

The site's close location to Naval Station Great Lakes, the nation's only Naval Recruit Training Center, from which 600 to 1,000 sailors graduate each week, is rich in redevelopment potential. Capitalizing on WESTON's green-development expertise, the city and WESTON will integrate sustainable-development goals into their plans in order to fulfill the city's vision to attract new commercial, retail and mixed-uses to the site.

Future phases of the project will create jobs, stimulate the local economy, and most importantly, capitalize on the city's progress in revitalizing the property by utilizing the city's infrastructure improvements and rehabilitation of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

"We had a 40-acre brownfield site with environmental issues that made development very challenging," said North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham, Jr. "After struggling over what to do with this site for years, we issued bonds and purchased the property ourselves. Although the development process takes significant time, we have been very successful in terms of our demolition and environmental cleanup efforts. It has been difficult securing a qualified developer with the necessary resources to work with us during these tough economic times. We have much to look forward to and I am glad we have WESTON on our team now. WESTON brings technical expertise, corporate partnerships and other important resources that we have not had in the past. We like WESTON's "can do" attitude. I know the City of North Chicago will achieve our vision for the property."

Kurt S. Stimpson, WESTON Senior Vice President and Central Division Manager, is proud of WESTON's role in helping to reshape the community. He stated, "We will work with all project stakeholders to build a trust relationship and integrate their varying needs in order to drive a win-win solution. WESTON has called Chicagoland home since 1967 and we look forward to providing a sustainable master plan that will restore the site to beneficial use."

Weston Solutions, Inc. (WESTON^®) is a global leader in environmental solutions, sustainable development, design/build construction, green buildings, and clean energy. Dedicated to making a difference in the world, the company's 1,800 people reach out from 60 offices around the globe to build strong stakeholder relationships and provide solutions that work. WESTON has been responding to its clients' toughest problems for more than 50 years. WESTON has full-service offices in Vernon Hills, Lake Villa, Chicago and Milwaukee, WI.

For more information about the City of North Chicago, visit www.northchicago.org.