256 Apartments, New Retail Planned In Chase Plaza Redevelopment

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — A long-underperforming shopping center at one of Buffalo Grove's most visible intersections could soon look dramatically different, with 256 apartments, a parking garage, renovated storefronts and new commercial space planned as the next phase of the Chase Plaza redevelopment.

Village trustees reviewed plans Monday for Phase 2 of the project at Lake Cook and Arlington Heights roads, a site village officials have spent years trying to revitalize.

The proposal from Shorewood Development Group and UrbanStreet Group would add a six-story, 256-unit market-rate apartment building on the eastern portion of the property, along with a three-story parking garage. The residential building would include a clubhouse, fitness center, resident lounge, fenced dog park and outdoor pool.

The project would also renovate the western portion of the existing shopping center along Arlington Heights Road with new storefronts, entrances, lighting and signage. The former Buffalo Restaurant property at the hard corner would become a roughly 6,000-square-foot development site reserved for a future tenant.

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For Village President Eric Smith, the significance goes beyond adding apartments or sprucing up storefronts.

"This honestly was my number one goal — getting this done — because this is our entryway from the west, and everybody sees it when they come into town, and it’s been an eyesore for over a decade," Smith said during Monday’s Village Board meeting. "This is going to be fantastic."

The developer's own project narrative similarly describes Chase Plaza as one of Buffalo Grove's most visible underperforming properties for more than a decade, noting its location at a gateway intersection used by tens of thousands of vehicles each day.

Phase 1 Already Under Construction

The latest proposal builds on work already underway at Chase Plaza.

Shorewood received approval earlier this year for Phase 1, which includes converting the former Dominick's space into two major tenant spaces: a roughly 34,500-square-foot Club Studio health club and a roughly 27,000-square-foot Sprouts Farmers Market.

Both tenants are under long-term leases, according to development documents. The broader plans call for new landscaping, lighting, repaved and restriped parking areas and improvements intended to make the various properties function as one cohesive center.

One trustee said the redevelopment represents a long-awaited turnaround for the property.

"I also am really happy to see a meaningful redevelopment occurring at Chase Plaza," Joanne Johnson said. "We all know this property has faced significant obstacles for many years."

Shorewood representatives told the board that assembling the property had itself been a challenge.

"As you guys know, when we presented Phase One, there was a lot of complications here," a Shorewood representative said. "There were four different owners, and it was quite the puzzle. … Presenting Phase Two, we have an exact grasp on that."

The developer said the next phase involves purchasing the former Buffalo Restaurant outlot as well as an eastern portion of the Butera property, while coordinating parking, curbing and façade improvements across the site.

Apartments From Developer Behind The Clove

UrbanStreet Group, which developed the residential component of The Clove elsewhere in Buffalo Grove, would build the Chase Plaza apartments.

The proposed six-story building would include a mix of one- and two-bedroom units and 456 parking spaces — 384 in the garage and 72 surface spaces.

The broader development plans describe apartment sizes ranging from roughly 600 to 1,475 square feet, with amenities including a resort-style pool, courtyards and pedestrian connections to the retail portion of the property.

An UrbanStreet representative pointed to demand at The Clove as evidence that Buffalo Grove can support another mixed-use residential development.

"We're really excited to do this with Sherwood," the representative said. "This is sort of the evolution of our business, to be blunt — people are demanding these types of environments."

The representative described the leasing performance at The Clove as particularly strong.

"As a testament to that building and this community, that is the single fastest lease-up in my life," he said. "I've been doing this for 37 years."

Part Of Lake Cook Corridor Vision

Village officials also emphasized that the Chase Plaza proposal fits into a redevelopment strategy Buffalo Grove adopted years ago for the Lake Cook Road corridor.

The property sits at the western gateway to the village's 475-acre Lake Cook Corridor. Chase Plaza and the former Town Center were specifically identified as "critical catalyst sites" in the village's Lake Cook Corridor Market Study and Plan because of their potential to spur broader redevelopment.

"Our residents and our board and our staff took the time to come up with this plan for the Lake-Cook Corridor, and we're actually seeing it come to fruition," Johnson said. "This is very closely aligned with what that plan says, so our residents should be delighted with it."

Trustees also praised the residential building's orientation toward Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve, which sits across Arlington Heights Road from the site.

"We have long talked about Buffalo Creek being a wonderful asset and being underutilized, and the way you designed the structure, clearly you are utilizing that vista very intentionally," Trustee Frank Cesario said.

More Approvals Still Needed

The project is not yet at final approval.

Monday's discussion was a pre-application review intended to gather Village Board feedback before the developers proceed through Buffalo Grove’s formal approval process.

The plans could require preliminary plan approval, an amendment to the existing planned unit development, a plat of consolidation, rezoning to B-3 Commercial and various development, signage and zoning variations.

Shorewood and UrbanStreet also intend to pursue reimbursement through Buffalo Grove's Lake Cook Corridor tax increment financing district, although village staff stressed that no formal request for TIF assistance is currently before the board. Any future reimbursement would require a separate redevelopment agreement and Village Board approval.

The next step is review by the village's Planning and Zoning Commission. The Aug. 17 agenda called for referral of the Phase 2 proposal to the commission for further consideration.