Town Center redevelopment plan unveiled
The Buffalo Grove Village Board will consider a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)” with developers that would likely clear the way for redevelopment of Town Center.
The village made the announcement
in a press release late Thursday afternoon.
Overview of proposed redevelopment |
The 20-acre site would be
redeveloped in multiple phases by Kensington Development Partners into a modern
central entertainment and residential district anchored by a national grocery
store, retail shops, a park, restaurants and luxury multi-family residential
housing. The plan includes 65,000 square feet of retail space with a total
project cost of $150 million.
According to the release, Kensington
is under contract to purchase the property and proposes two phases of
redevelopment. The first phase includes the southern and central sections of
the site with a new 37,500-square-foot “nationally renowned” grocery store with
an innovative format to meet the demands of today’s consumers. No specific
store was identified.
A "nationally known" grocery store is part of the redevelopment plans. |
Plans call for a 7-story, 275- to
300-unit high-end apartment building with 18,000 square feet of commercial
space on the ground floor to be built north of the grocery store.
Overall, Phase 1 features more than 65,000 square feet of retail and restaurants scattered throughout the site, including multiple outlots. Kensington is currently negotiating a lease with Guzman Y Gomez Mexican Restaurant to occupy one of the new outlots.
Guzman y Gomez is an Australian
casual-dining restaurant chain that also operates internationally. Outside one
unit in the United States, located in Naperville, the firm’s greatest
concentration of restaurants is in Australia, Japan and Singapore.
According
to a memo to Village Trustees, Village Manager Dane Bragg noted that “At this
time, Kensington just has a contract to purchase the Town Center property. The
existing Boston Market, Burger King and Bowlero are not part of the
redevelopment concept as they are
separately owned parcels.”
Under the terms of the MOU,
Kensington will pursue Phase 2 within five years of the construction of Phase
1.
The process first began with the
Lake-Cook Corridor Plan adopted in 2018. A Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
district, was established in 2020. Kensington went under contract with the Town
Center owners to purchase the property, and with the Village, in July 2020, and
has been refining the plan and negotiating a public-private partnership since
that time.
The MOU specifies Kensington’s
obligation to purchase and redevelop the property, per the agreed upon vision.
In doing so, the Village will provide eligible TIF funds and 50-percent of the
new sales tax growth in an amount not to exceed $24.75 million.
“The agreement with Kensington
creates a catalyst for the ongoing redevelopment of the Lake Cook Road corridor
and delivers a much-needed gathering place for our community,” Bragg says.
If the MOU is approved, Kensington
will proceed with finalizing their plans and enter into a formal redevelopment
agreement with the Village. Construction is anticipated to start in the summer
of 2022.
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Buffalo Grove News and Info, is independently produced by Buffalo Grove resident Stan Zoller. A longtime journalist and journalism educator, Zoller covers Buffalo Grove and monitors news and information about the village, its schools, park district and community events. Buffalo Grove News and Information is not affiliated with any municipal body.
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