Deerfield Buys, Plans To Demolish Former Village Music Store

DEERFIELD, IL — The village last week purchased the former site of the Village Music Store with the intent to eventually redevelop the parcel. Pioneer Press reported the deal was authorized by the village board Aug. 20 and completed Oct. 18. Deerfield spent $436,000 for the land, which has been identified as a prime area for redevelopment, according to the Deerfield Review.

The village purchased a parcel of land immediately south of the music store for $370,000 in 2016 and demolished a home on the site, according to property records. Combined, the two properties make up a 0.8-acre area between Central and Osterman avenues west of Waukegan Road.

Village officials told Pioneer Press the area could eventually become part of a larger development, especially if the post office decides to relocate. The music store, a former farmhouse, is due to be razed next summer. It was rezoned to commercial use in 1980, while the parcel to the south is zoned for multi-unit residential.

Both pieces of village-owned land border to the 2.41-acre United States Postal Service facility on their west. The Central Avenue site borders the Deerfield Cemetery on its east, while the music store site on Osterman Avenue borders a bank.

The music store property last sold in 1987 for $145,000 to the late Bob Gand, who opened the Village Music Store and Village School of Music in Deerfield in 1963. According to a Chicago Sun-Times obituary, the business had three locations and employed up to 20 teachers at its peak. Gand, a jazz trumpet player, civil rights worker, avid runner and veteran died in 2014 at the age of 88.

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