6 | June 6, 2019 | The Northbrook tower news northbrooktower.com Northbrook Village Board Northbrook Court redevelopment up for final vote June 11 Chris Pullam Freelance Reporter The Northbrook Court redevelopment project is now one vote away from approval. During its Tuesday, May 28 meeting, the Northbrook Village Board voted 6-1 to have village staff draw up final approval documents, which will be considered during the board’s Tuesday, June 11 meeting. Only Trustee Jason Han, who so far has voted against every action supporting the redevelopment, opposed the motion. The proposed mixeduse redevelopment plan for the west end of the Northbrook Court Shopping Center, located at 1315-1825 Lake Cook Road, would include up to 315 luxury apartments in a five-story residential structure, which would sit atop two levels of indoor parking containing 432 parking stalls for the residential building. It would also house a grocery store and several restaurant and retail spaces. The applicant, Northbrook Anchor Acquisition, also proposed approximately 106,000 square feet of new retail development, as well as redevelopment of approximately 72,000 square feet of the west end of the existing shopping center, where Macy’s currently connects to the mall. The project includes a reconfiguration of the road that loops around the Northbrook Court, with the inclusion of a dedicated bike lane in a portion of the roadway area adjacent to the residential portion of the redevelopment. Northbrook residents ROUND IT UP A brief recap of Village Board action on Tuesday, May 28: • The Village Board authorized an agreement for fire hydrant painting with Alpha Paintworks, of Chicago, in the three-year total amount of $109,200. • Trustees approved an agreement with Preform Traffic Control Systems for pavement marking services. • The Board supported a $3,940 contract with Raynor Door Company, of Northfield, for overhead door maintenance services. spent nearly two hours addressing the board about the proposal. “You can vote no… [but then] what happens?” asked resident Mike Scolaro, a former Village Board trustee. “Nothing. We have a big sign if you go past Northbrook Court right now that says ‘going out of business’ at Macy’s. That sign will be replaced by nothing. It will be replaced by a building that will be torn down or vacant. There won’t be cars in front of it. There will be less cars at Northbrook Court, less tax collections and further loss of a Class-A mall.” While many speakers agreed with him, several supported the general plan while opposing specific details, such as the location of the grocery store or the size of the setbacks, which would situate an 80-foot-tall building only 100 feet away from private backyards. One fix, favored by resident Leonard Ginzburg, is to utilize the applicant’s alternative plan that places the grocery store farther away from private properties. “I think the presentation the applicant has provided you is basically a smokeand-mirrors game,” he During its Tuesday, May 28 meeting, the Northbrook Village Board voted 6-1 to have village staff draw up final approval documents for a massive proposed redevelopment of Northbrook Court, which will likely be considered during the board’s Tuesday, June 11 meeting. Rendering Courtesy of the Village of Northbrook said. “They want the grocery store to be visible from Lake Cook Road … but not a single time has the applicant said who is actually interested in [that space] or if they have a letter of intent. Multiple grocery stores in the area have gone bankrupt, so who wants to build there? “… They have secondary plans to redesign the property if a grocer doesn’t come in, and if it doesn’t come in, there’s no need for it to be on the north side of the property in the first place.” Previously, during their April 23 meeting, trustees preemptively created a Tax Increment Financing District to support the proposed redevelopment. Only Han opposed that action. If the redevelopment is eventually approved, the overall property value of Northbrook Court would increase following the upgrades, causing its property taxes to increase. By creating a TIF District around the mall, trustees would be subsidizing construction costs by waving only the additional taxes over a 23-year period. Either the Village Board or Plan Commission could still scrap the actual project, according to Village Attorney Steve Elrod, if the trustees and commissioners are unable to come to an agreement with the developer. If that were to happen, the TIF would continue to exist as a potential draw to other developers. Currently, a redevelopment agreement is being drafted that sets forth the terms for the $21.5 million in TIF financing in a “pay-as-you-go” format. The TIF agreement will also include requirements that the developer make various school district payments, including a one-time supplemental impact fee of $95,000 to Glenbrook High Schools District 225 and $225,000 to Northbrook School District 28. Another section of the redevelopment agreement will establish the terms and conditions of the $5.5 million that would come from a sales tax rebate. The sales tax rebate would come from increased sales tax revenues generated from Northbrook Court following the redevelopment of the property. These funds would be used to improve the existing shopping center. Sales taxes collected above the pre-established base sales tax collection amount of $4,425,000 — the estimated 2017 sales tax receipts from the existing mall, plus $425,000 to account for future Village fire, EMS and police services in the center — would be split on a 50/50 basis with the developer and the Village until the sales tax incentive amount is paid or 20 years, whichever occurs first. In defending the TIF, Trustee Kathryn Ciesla argued that Northbrook Court “is one of our strongest economic engines” and provides approximately 30 percent of the village’s tax revenue. “I know this mall cannot continue as a 1970sera center,” she said. “It needs to evolve or it will simply decline. We’ve known Macy’s is going out of business for a long time. … It’s unrealistic to assume that another largescale retail tenant will fill that space, so it’s mostly likely the building would come down or stay fallow for a long time.” Following prior public comments requesting the incorporation of affordable housing, Northbrook Anchor Acquisition agreed to provide $750,000 in seed money to help enact a village-wide affordable housing plan if the Village Board approves such an ordinance down the road. But the compromise didn’t appease Han. “I don’t support the idea of an affordable housing fund,” he said. “I support affordable housing, but we don’t have a plan yet. We don’t have anything that will address the $750,000. What would we do with it? How would we implement the fund? I think this only encourages future developers to pay this fee in lieu of developing actual affordable housing … I support developing actual affordable housing.”
northbrooktower.com northbrook the northbrook tower | June 6, 2019 | 7 Just Listed! ComingSoon! 1530ShagBark, Northbrook Beautifully renovated3bed 2bathranch on large professionally landscaped yard.The gorgeous newkitchen is the heartofthishome. 606CarriageHill, Northbrook Fantasticopportunity to live in this spacious 2bedroom/1.1 bath townhome in awesomelocation. Cathedralceilings,hardwood floorsand greatfloorplanmakethishomeaperfect choice. Call Today! 847.361.0864 S! S 2D! 324ParkDr, Northbrook Contact Sharon for all Your Real Estate Needs! 1726 Chapel, Northbrook SHARON DOLEZAL| Broker 847.361.0864C|847.504.5596 sharon.dolezal@bairdwarner.com Baird &WarnerGlenbrook 2731 Pfingsten Road Glenbrook,IL60026
Change language