The former Imperial Motors dealership site on Green Bay Road is now selling condos.

Optima, Inc. launched sales on Tuesday, July 22, for Optima Lumina, a 133-unit luxury condominium building planned for the corner of Green Bay Road and Washington Avenue in downtown Wilmette, directly across from the Wilmette Metra station on the Union Pacific North line. The unit count increased from 128 in the village's 2024 approval to 133 in the current sales materials; Optima has not publicly explained the change.

One-bedroom units start at $595,000. Two-bedrooms start at $895,000. Three-bedroom residences begin at $1.99 million, and four-bedroom homes at $4.59 million. Optima has targeted a 2028 opening but has not confirmed a construction start date.

The six-story, 75-foot-tall building will include roughly 5,900 square feet of ground-floor retail space, according to Optima. The Starbucks at 739 Green Bay Road plans to relocate into one of those retail spaces when the building opens. Additional retail tenants have not been announced.

David Hovey Jr., president of Optima and co-designer of the project alongside his father David C. Hovey, who founded the Glencoe-based firm, designed the building with a Z-shaped footprint and architectural terracotta on the exterior. Units range up to 3,000 square feet. A rooftop skydeck will feature a year-round pool enclosed by retractable glass walls.

The project sits directly north of Optima Verdana, the firm's 100-unit rental building at 1210 Central Ave., which opened in 2023 and is fully leased with a waitlist across all unit types. A 75-foot-wide public plaza with outdoor seating, public art, and a fountain will separate the two buildings.

Wilmette's Village Board voted 6-1 to approve the project on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, after reviewing nine iterations of the plans across nearly 10 hours of hearings. Trustee Gina Kennedy cast the sole dissenting vote. Village President Senta Plunkett said at that meeting that the project "will be an asset to the Green Bay Road corridor, which still needs a lot of love."

As part of the approval, Optima will contribute $3.8 million toward Wilmette's affordable housing fund, build a new pedestrian crosswalk across Green Bay Road near Washington Avenue, and add 25 public parking spaces on village-owned property at 1225 Central Ave. The developer's projections presented to the board estimated a 10-year fiscal impact exceeding $12 million for the village.

Optima opened a sales gallery at 711 Green Bay Road, on the ground floor of its adjacent Verdana building, where prospective buyers can review floor plans with the firm's in-house architects. Optima has not announced retail tenants beyond Starbucks or confirmed what will happen to the existing Starbucks storefront at 739 Green Bay Road. Project documents are available through the village's community development department at wilmette.com.