The large, triangular property in the center of this photograph is at the southeast corner of Higgins and Bartlett roads, near South Barrington. It once was home to Allstate Corp.’s headquarters but has been vacant for years. A company wants to redevelop the land. | Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
By Russell Lissau | Daily Herald
In an unusual real-estate move, Allstate Corp. has requested South Barrington officials annex the site of its former headquarters — just a little more than a year after the company had the land legally disconnected from the suburb.
South Barrington’s attorney, James Vasselli, said he’s never before heard of a property owner having land excised from a municipality only to turn around and later request annexation.
“(It’s) a unicorn event,” Vasselli said.
The annexation is proposed ahead of a potential redevelopment of the roughly 67-acre site, which is on the southeast corner of Higgins and Bartlett roads. A Rosemont company called the Opus Group wants to purchase the site and construct a light-industrial complex.
The proposal is similar to the one Texas-based Hillwood Development Co. put forth in 2022. Allstate petitioned for disconnection the following year, and it was granted by a Cook County judge in February 2025.
But Hillwood is out of the picture now, and the Opus Group has a contract to purchase the land, Vasselli said.
“One door closes, another door opens,” he said.
The Allstate property is just north of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway and across the Higgins/Bartlett intersection from the sprawling Arboretum of South Barrington shopping center. The South Barrington Office Center is to its east.
Article continues here.