Chicago-based self-storage operator LifeStorage plans to convert a 60,589-square-foot building in Forest Park, Ill., into a storage facility with office suites. The village council approved an updated zoning map earlier this week that included the property at 1800 Desplaines Ave. as a “Planned Unit Development.”

Scheduled to open this spring, the property will include the addition of a partial second floor, according to plans submitted to the planning commission last December. The facility will offer climate-controlled and drive-up units as well as 14 office suites.

"The office-suite component will allow small 'cottage industries' an opportunity to rent office space and store product in the same space," according to a zoning-board memo submitted with the company’s application.

LifeStorage purchased the property in February out of foreclosure from First American Bank, according to the source. Former property owner Christopher Wessels and his business partner Ken DeGori stirred controversy in 2007 when they proposed a strip club at the site. When the partners were denied a business license, DeGori sued the village and Mayor Anthony Calderone but later dropped the suit, the source reported.

Founded in 2002 by owners Jean Jodoin and Christopher Barry, LifeStorage operates more than 50 self-storage facilities in eight states, with a heavy concentration in the Chicagoland area.

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