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Archive for the ‘Hoffman Estates’ Category

Plum

Hoffman Estates trustees on Monday approved construction of sewer and water utilities enabling development of the 185-acre Plum Farms property northwest of Higgins Road and Route 59. This view looks south toward Higgins Road, with Old Sutton Road at the center of the image.( Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer, 2019)

Hoffman Estates officials Monday approved the construction of sewer and water utilities enabling the long-sought development of the 185-acre Plum Farms property at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59.

The site lies directly west of The Arboretum of South Barrington shopping center but has lacked the infrastructure needed to continue such development west along Higgins Road.

The right of the landowners to build utility connections was granted by an annexation and development agreement six years ago. But since then other preparations needed to be made, such as the negotiation of easements with neighboring property owners including the Hoffman Estates Park District and Canadian National Railway.

Though a 40-acre tax increment financing district was approved in 2020 to potentially provide some financial assistance in building utilities with property tax funds, there is not yet a specific agreement about which costs the district could reimburse, Hoffman Estates Director of Development Services Peter Gugliotta said.

A separate building permit is also needed to construct the utilities, which the landowner must apply for within a year of Monday night’s approval.

Construction of the utilities would probably take only two or three months from the time work starts, Gugliotta estimated.

Read more here.

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Golden

Barrington’s plan commission on Tuesday recommended a proposal for a four-story, mixed-use building in a part of the village’s downtown known as the “Golden Triangle.” The plan calls for 125 apartments, space for retail or restaurant uses and storage for high-end and classic cars. (Courtesy of Barrington)

Barrington officials believe a new mixed-use development that includes luxury apartments, restaurants and storage for high-end and classic cars offers a golden opportunity to redevelop the village’s “Golden Triangle.”

Barrington resident Joe Taylor, CEO of Compasspoint Development, is proposing a four-story mixed-use building at has plans for 200-300 Hough Street in the village’s downtown. The plan includes 125 apartments, 12,000 square feet of restaurant/retail space, and 37 car condominiums.

It means a complete overhaul of the 6.2-acre site, with the installation of utilities, parking, landscaping, lighting, signage, walkways, bicycle parking and a pedestrian esplanade along Hough Street.

After a positive recommendation Tuesday from the village’s plan commission, the plan heads to the village board for possible final approval.

Jennifer Tennant, Barrington’s assistant director of development services, said the project meets the planning goals and objectives of the village’s comprehensive plan.

“This has been a redevelopment site for the village since the early 90s,” she told the commission.

The site includes all the remaining property in the Golden Triangle area south of Liberty Street, which encompasses the former Market Center building and a former Volvo dealership.

Read more here.

Editorial note: Earlier today we updated plans at the Bell Works Chicagoland “metroburb” in Hoffman Estates to build 164 townhomes within District 220 boundaries. There are also plans to add 361 apartments.

Adding 125 apartments to the “Golden (Seigle’s) Triangle” in Barrington would represent a total of 650 housing units withing District 220 borders.

We all witnessed enrollment declining in District 220 for years except recently.  However, our property taxes did not go down.  These housing units will obviously bring an significant influx of students and likely a significant increase our taxes.

Related:Hoffman Estates project reaches for a Lincoln Park vibe

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Inspired

“We’re creating a quality product here in the Barrington 220 school district. Interest rates are still historically low. We’d rather be delivering our product sooner than waiting for the market to come to us.” – Ken Gold, Inspired by Somerset Development

The “metroburb” experiment in Hoffman Estates is moving forward.

It’s a grand vision of suburban living that’s supposed to inject it with a dash of urban variety and conviviality. The “metroburb” term is employed by a company, Inspired by Somerset Development, to describe its efforts to turn a sprawling former AT&T research center into something useful again.

Prominent Chicago architect Dirk Lohan designed the place, which opened in 1990 as the Ameritech Center and became part of AT&T. About 5,000 people used to work there. AT&T eventually decided it didn’t need a former corporate vision of paradise that lolled across 150 acres. It left it behind in 2016.

By 2019, the firm now called Inspired acquired the site at 2000 Center Drive, just off the Jane Addams Tollway, and rechristened it Bell Works Chicagoland in honor of its telephone past. It is reworking the main building, a massive 1.6 million square feet, to accommodate offices, dining and entertainment and has signed about 200,000 square feet of leases, said Jack Aber, Inspired’s chief operating officer. Tenants include waste management firm Heritage-Crystal Clean, Platinum Home Mortgage, apparel company Club Colors and a Fairgrounds coffee and tea café that plans to expand.

The goal is to create something busy but comfortable. “It’s a metropolis in suburbia,” said Aber, who used to specialize in downtown Chicago office leasing. “People come here, they get a little bit of Fulton Market, they get a little of Wacker Drive. It’s just closer to home and with green space,” he said.

Read more here.

Related:164 high-end townhouses coming to Bell Works in Hoffman Estates

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Flood

“Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will host a virtual flood map information open house on March 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. for communities in northwest Cook and northeast Kane Counties, according to a news release.

Revised areas are within the Poplar Creek and Spring Creek watersheds, including portions of Barrington Hills, Elgin, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Schaumburg, South Barrington, Streamwood and South Elgin. The open house will give residents the chance to review preliminary versions of a recently completed Flood Insurance Study and its accompanying preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map.

The FIS and FIRMs provide base flood information, designate areas that are subject to significant flood hazards and offer information that public officials may use when permitting development in the floodplain.

At the virtual open house, representatives from local, state and federal agencies will provide the most current information about flood risk, flood insurance, floodplain development regulations and the process for floodplain mapping within the Poplar Creek and Spring Creek watersheds. The newly prepared preliminary floodplain maps can also be viewed at the meeting. FEMA intends that they be used as tools to assist planning processes and outreach efforts to quickly respond to and recover from future events, the release stated.

To attend the virtual meeting visit zoom.com and enter the ID 897 5579 0878 and the password 604044 or click here.”

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Sears

The 2.4-million-square-foot headquarters developed by Sears in Hoffman Estates 30 ago, as well as 120 surrounding acres, is planned to be put on the market in early 2022, according to village officials.

The company born from the bankruptcy of Sears has informed the village of Hoffman Estates that it intends to put its corporate headquarters and 120 surrounding acres in the Northwest suburb on the market at the start of the new year.

The announcement comes only a month after Transformco closed its last Sears department store in Illinois, at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg.

Transformco representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but Hoffman Estates officials said the company has not indicated what the sale would mean for its presence in the village.

Since its move from Chicago 30 years ago, Sears’ corporate headquarters has consisted of seven interconnected office buildings totaling 2.4 million square feet in western Hoffman Estates. Transformco also owns 120 undeveloped acres around the headquarters.

Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod and Village Manager Eric Palm said Tuesday that Transformco informed them Monday of plans to list its property for sale after the first of the year.

“Everything that they own would be part of that listing,” Palm said.

McLeod said a change of ownership for the struggling property would likely be positive news.

Read more here.

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CRG Residental

This rendering shows one of the six apartment buildings CRG Residential is proposing for the northwest corner of Higgins and Old Sutton roads as part of the Plum Farms development in Hoffman Estates. This building closest to the corner would be among those also including some ground-floor retail space.

Hoffman Estates officials expressed informal support Monday for a six-building apartment complex with some retail space to kick off construction of the long-delayed Plum Farms development at the northwest corner of Higgins Road and Route 59.

But they also urged developers to keep aware of the floodplain that overlaps the sprawling property during installation of underground utilities as well as surface construction.

CRG Residential of Carmel, Indiana, sought the courtesy review from the village board’s planning, building and zoning committee for 310 apartments spread among the six buildings specifically on the tax-increment finance district at the northwest corner of Higgins and Old Sutton roads.

Three of the buildings would be three stories, while the other three would be four stories. The ground floors of some of the buildings would also provide commercial space totaling about 14,000 square feet, including at the corner itself.

Representatives of CRG Residential suggested that commercial space might find such uses as an eatery or coffee shop as well as a medical or dental office.

The current owners of the 185 acres that make up the Plum Farms development also have plans for a self-storage facility along the railroad tracks at the western edge of the property.

Read more here.

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PC 9.21

The Plan Commission will be holding a special meeting this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:

  • Plan Commission Introduction, Duties and Code Requirements
  • Lot Consolidation Application: 266 Steeplechase (Public hearing followed by commission meeting/vote), and
  • Plum Farms

A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.  The meeting will be held at Village Hall, or residents can try to listen in to the meeting proceedings by dialing 508-924-1464.

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HE Fest

Hoffman Estates’ 15th Platzkonzert Germanfest will feature music, beer, food and more

Get ready to hoist your stein this weekend when Hoffman Estates’ Platzkonzert Germanfest returns to the Virginia Hayter Village Green, 5450 Prairie Stone Parkway, just north of the NOW Arena.

The annual celebration will mark its 15th year. Visitors can enjoy authentic German music and beer from 5-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10-12. Admission is free, and events take place rain or shine.

“We had limited time to plan due to uncertainty with the pandemic, but this is a perfect outdoor setting at the reconstructed Village Green,” said Gayle Vandenburgh, co-chair of the village’s Platzkonzert Commission.

“There is plenty of outdoor space for social distancing while enjoying German traditions and music.”

New this year will be fireworks at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

The Kinderplatz will offer free children’s activities from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. In partnership with the Hoffman Estates Park District, Kinderplatz will feature arts and crafts, an obstacle course, bounce house and more.

True to the Platzkonzert name, a full lineup of music is planned over the three-day fest. Headliners include Alpine Blast at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Semple Band at 8 p.m. Saturday and the Johnny Wagner Band at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Read more here, or visit www.hoffmanestates.org/platz for more information.

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Plum Farms

The Executive Director of the Hoffman Estates Park District will be providing a report on Plum Farms this evening to the BHPD Commissioners.

The Barrington Hills Park District Board will hold their regular monthly meeting this evening in-person and via Zoom at 7:00 PM.  Some of the topics on their agenda include:

  • Hoffman Estates Park District Executive Director report on Plum Farms
  • Motion to adopt and approve a Sexual Harassment Policy
  • New outdoor arena, motion to proceed with bidding process
  • Purchase of trees & shrubs for the Riding Center grounds
  • Footing complaints affecting all arenas, and
  • The need for final footing authority?

A copy of their agenda can be viewed here. Instructions for accessing the meeting remotely can be found here.

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ATT

The construction of 189 townhouses and 361 apartments has been proposed around the outside of the main office and commercial building of the Bell Works Chicagoland redevelopment of the former AT&T corporate campus in Hoffman Estates. (Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer, 2018)

The redevelopment of Hoffman Estates’ former AT&T headquarters into the mixed-use “metroburb” called Bell Works Chicagoland is about to embark on its next phase: a residential component featuring townhouses and apartments.

Ken Gold, vice president of acquisitions and development for New Jersey-based Somerset Development, said his firm is in the process of submitting a formal plan for 189 townhouses and 361 apartments to the village.

Somerset is likely to stick to its original intention of selling the land surrounding the main building on the 150-acre site to another developer, which would execute the plans for housing, Gold said.

He anticipates a 4- to 6-month review of the plans by Hoffman Estates officials. If the project stays on schedule, the first townhouses could be delivered in the summer of 2022, Gold said.

Somerset’s original agreement with the village set the limit on the number of housing units at 550, though a slight variation was permitted in the ratio between types.

This phase of the project comes at a particularly strong time for the residential real estate market, Gold said.

Though the pandemic created a slowdown in the market for office space, it occurred while Somerset was in the process of renovating and adapting the lobby and atrium space. The company also was constructing 32,462 square feet of speculative office space and 2,000 square feet of retail or restaurant space on the main floor of the central building at 2000 Center Drive.

Read more here.

Editorial note: The location of Somerset Development’s planned apartments and townhomes appears to be within the Barrington CUSD 220 attendance boundary (see map here).

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