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Archive for the ‘Hoffman Estates’ Category

Residents invited to attend virtual flood map open house

Posted in Cook, County, Flint Creek/Spring Creek Watersheds Partnership, FPDCC, Hoffman Estates, Kane, Spring Creek Watershed, Topics Of Interest on March 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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 headquarters to be up for sale in 2022

Posted in 300, Barrington Area Library, Hoffman Estates, Property Taxes, Real Estate, School Districts on December 14, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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Hoffman Estates panel so far supports Plum Farms apartment proposal

Posted in 220, 300, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Disconnection, Land Use, Plum Farm development, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, School Districts, Traffic, Village Government on November 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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Village Plan Commission meets tonight

Posted in 220, 300, Agendas, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Meeting Minutes, Plan Commission, Plum Farm development, Politics, School Districts, Topics Of Interest, Village Code, Village Government on September 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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Prost to Hoffman Estates’ Platzkonzert Germanfest

Posted in Entertainment, Hoffman Estates on September 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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Barrington Hills Park District Board meets tonight

Posted in Agendas, Barrington Hills Park District, Barrington Hills Polo Club, Cook, County, Fox River Valley Hunt, FPDCC, FRVPC, Hoffman Estates, Land Use, Massbach Hounds, Plum Farm development, Politics, Property Taxes, Riding Center Advisory Committee, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Taxes, Village Government on August 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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Developer filing plan for townhouses, apartments at Bell Works in Hoffman Estates

Posted in 220, Hoffman Estates, Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts, South Barrington on May 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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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How to lose an election (without really trying?)

Posted in 2021 Elections, Hoffman Estates, OP/Ed, Village Government on April 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Hoffman Candidates

A friend recently stopped by Village Hall, and something caught their eye in the discarded election signs stacked for recycling at the “public works” barn.  Upon closer inspection, they discovered three hundred (300) new, sealed and uncirculated Hoffman Estates election campaign signs left for recycling (seen in the image above).

Now, Barrington Hills does promote recycling at our facility, so there’s no problem with that.  And, we actually published a piece six years ago on the overabundance of election signs blighting our roads (see “Too many sign”), but we weren’t advocating wasting donors hard earned money just to please us, so we had to learn more.

The Hoffman Estates unofficial election results show the second-place presidential candidate lost by roughly 900 votes, but the trustee elections were much closer for one candidate named in the heap at our Village ‘pubic works” barn.

She lost by just 28 votes, and according to the Daily Herald, the incumbent trustee who narrowly defeated her, “…said he picked up all 77 of his signs Wednesday morning from throughout the subdivision.”

So, would 300 extra campaign signs have made a difference?  There’s no definitive answer, but some might argue it explains why those signs were left in Barrington Hills and not closer by Hoffman Estates.  Others might say a little more effort might have changed the outcome for at least one candidate.

Why is this noteworthy?  Because ten years ago all it took was one newly elected trustee to spark a change in the momentum of our village government, and it’s a shame to see any opportunity like that squandered.

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Sears’ Headquarters Was Supposed to Turn a Sleepy Suburb Into a Boomtown. It Never Happened.

Posted in Cook, County, Hoffman Estates, Illinois Tollway, Politics, Property Taxes, Real Estate, School Districts, South Barrington on May 17, 2020| Leave a Comment »

To lure Sears into a Chicago suburb, officials crafted the largest tax break package ever awarded to a company in Illinois. It resulted in revenue shortfalls, disappearing jobs and unexpected tax burdens, a Daily Herald and ProPublica review showed.

On a hot Sunday afternoon in June 1989, two of the most powerful men in Illinois met to watch a ballgame at Wrigley Field — and, if all went well, to make a deal.

James R. Thompson, the state’s four-term Republican governor, and Edward Brennan, chairman of Sears, Roebuck & Co., the world’s largest retailer, had been deep in talks for months.

The stakes were high. Brennan was threatening to move Sears’ corporate headquarters, located in downtown Chicago in what was then the tallest skyscraper in the world, to another state. The move would rob Illinois of thousands of good-paying jobs, tens of millions in tax revenues and its reputation as a business-friendly state.

As the two men watched the Montreal Expos blank the Cubs 5-0, dropping the “Lovable Losers” out of first place, Thompson told Brennan he’d do whatever it took to keep Sears from leaving. The state had crafted a package of financial incentives that the legendary political deal maker believed was too good to pass up.

After the game ended, Thompson called up one of his closest associates, Jay Hedges, director of the state’s Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. In a recent interview, Hedges recalled Thompson delivering the news of his breakthrough.

“Well, Jay, Sears is staying in Illinois,” Thompson told him. “And they want to move to Hoffman Estates.”

Read much more here.

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District 220 won’t contest dismissal of lawsuit

Posted in 220, Board of Education, Hoffman Estates, Plum Farm development, Politics, School Districts, Uncategorized on January 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This is an artist’s rendering of one of the seven apartment buildings planned for the Plum Farms development at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72. A Cook County judge last month dismissed a lawsuit Barrington Unit District 220 filed over the proposal.

Barrington Unit District 220 won’t challenge a Cook County circuit court judge’s decision last month to dismiss a lawsuit the school system filed against Hoffman Estates and developers of the stalled Plum Farms proposal at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72. Hoffman Estates’ development agreement limits Plum Farms to 1,250 homes of various types. The most recent plan submitted by a development partnership calls for 1,035.

But the last indication of progress on Plum Farms was interrupted by the filing of a lawsuit in July 2017 by residents of the nearby Regency at the Woods of South Barrington retirement community.

District 220 intervened in the complaint on the side of the residents, with the developer and village named as defendants. The density of the proposed development and the potential for additional students’ costs to exceed the increase in tax revenue were at the heart of the school district’s concerns.

While the residents’ original lawsuit was settled last summer, District 220 kept its part of the case active until it was dismissed in December. School board President Penny Kazmier announced at a meeting Tuesday night that the district will not pursue any further legal action in the case.

Read more here.

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