Sue Kartheiser stood by on a recent day as the earth split open at a grassy lot, just a block from downtown Libertyville, where she’ll soon be living with her daughter, Maddie Ryan, 13, in a green ‘arts and crafts’ style bungalow.

The construction of her house is the first of the School Street housing development, where workers broke ground last week.

“I’m ready to go and I love the project,” Kartheiser said.

The plans include 26 small single-family houses and the conversion of the former Central School Building into 15 residential units. The houses will have porches close to the sidewalks, small yards and each varies in design and color.

The neighborhood has been touted by its developer and long-time Libertyville resident, John McLinden of StreetScape Partners LLC, as a “New Urbanist” concept. According to experts, the pillars of New Urbanism are walkability to home and work, a pedestrian-friendly street design, a mixed use of shops, offices, apartments and various sizes of homes, and high quality architecture and urban design.

A University of Virgina urban and environmental planning professor who has published nationally renowned studies on New Urbanism since the 1980s, also happens to know Libertyville well. His parents and sister lived there for many years.

“The location of this development is excellent, and the adaptive use of the old school is excellent,” said Professor William Lucy, who has authored, “Foreclosing the Dream: How America’s Housing Crisis is Reshaping Our Cities and Suburbs” and “Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs,” with co-author David Phillips, and “Confronting Suburban Decline.”

In Lucy’s recent report, the number of homeowners age 55 and older who want to downsize their homes increased by 8 million between 2000 and 2009, and potential 30- to 45-year-old homebuyers decreased by 3.6 million.

Therefore, the construction of smaller homes and the reuse of an old school fits the changing needs of the aging suburban population looking to downsize and young families looking for affordable homes, Lucy said.

The equation has held true, according to developers.

“So far, we’ve sold homes to empty nesters and young singles,” McLinden said.

In six months of marketing, 17 of the houses in the plan have already been sold, McLinden said. He calls this project a restart, since StreetScape bought the land, which was purchased by Hummel Group in 2005 and foreclosed in 2007.

Developers with the School Street development have sold 17 of 24 units. Tribune photo by Amy Alderman

Kartheiser said she had wanted to move to that location when the Hummel Group’s project was underway, but she wasn’t able to afford it.

“The price points are very affordable because we were buying the property out of foreclosure,” McLinden said.

Hummel Group’s plan was to build modern brownstones, ranging from $800,000 to $855,000.

StreetScape’s houses cost about $500,000. Six of the lofts in Central School will be considered affordable housing with prices up to $230,000, McLinden said. He estimates the gross sales of the project to total $20 million.

The houses offer a variety of designs and square footage and will be painted a number of colors from green to red to pale blue and yellow.

“It won’t have a cookie cutter look,” Kartheiser said, adding that alone was a huge selling point.

“I love the idea of the front porches, the lack of a huge yard. It has none of the excess,” Kartheiser said. “It fits my life plan and who I am. I think it’s going to be a happy place to be.”

However, not everyone’s been pleased with all of the elements of the development.

Cheri Lindell, school director of Dance Center North, said she has considered moving from her downtown location at 540 N. Milwaukee Ave. — the center’s home for 36 years — because School Street will take up more than 30 parking spaces. Her customers and those of other businesses have long used those lots, she said.

“These spaces were planned to be vacated under the original development plan created by the previous developer and approved by the village through the public hearing process,” McLinden said. “Our plan does nothing that would take more spaces out of service than was originally planned.”

McLinden calls Dance Center North a “cherished” business, adding it would be a shame if they moved from their downtown location and noted he’s agreed to “keep these spaces in service as long as practical.

“We find it a bit odd that the parking situation in downtown Libertyville would be cited as the reason for moving,” McLinden said. “From an urbanist’s perspective, if in fact parking is sometimes tight, that just proves that the downtown area is vibrant and well visited which should be an attraction for business versus a detraction.”