Controversial Buffalo Grove downtown plan dies

A controversial plan to build a sprawling downtown project on Buffalo Grove's municipal campus and golf course has come to an abrupt end.

CRM Properties Group President Charles Malk has withdrawn the proposal, citing higher-than-anticipated costs and a lack of public funding, the village announced Tuesday.

Village President Jeff Braiman said CRM's concept "does not make financial sense for Buffalo Grove."

Malk was out of town Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Braiman said the proposal started to wilt when the village recently got Malk's figures.

Malk, Braiman said, wanted a commitment from the village for extensive tax increment financing, part of property taxes slated for local governments that would have gone into developments instead. In this case that could have amounted to $80 million to $100 million.

"After talking to every one of the trustees, there wasn't the appetite for the size of the ... public financing," the village president said. "Nobody, not one of them, was interested in a TIF that large."

A TIF would have carried risk, even hurting the village's ability down the line to borrow money for capital improvements, Braiman said.

"If we needed funds for street replacement or sewer replacement or upgrading, that may have impeded us from obtaining those funds for that," he said.

"Based upon that, he (Malk) said, 'Look, I don't want to spend more money, time and effort, if it's not going to go.'

"He understood what he was asking us. He understood that (it would take) a huge commitment by the village, one that the majority of trustees weren't willing to undertake."

Malk's company first approached the village in 2012 with plans for a $320 million project on 65 acres along Lake-Cook Road, on the site of village hall and the Buffalo Grove Golf Club. The initial concept was abandoned after a floodplain and soil suitability study showed it could not be built as proposed.

The company's most recent, scaled-down plan called for 355,000 square feet of retail space, 707,000 square feet of commercial space, 677 residential units and 53.5 acres of open space for recreation, trails and parks.

It also planned for a cinema, potential performance theater, library, day care and fitness center.

Braiman said Malk was counting heavily on the office component to have people on site during the day to generate revenue. That office component alone carried a $40 million price tag.

The latest proposal met with sharp opposition from some residents and led to calls for a referendum in April. There was political backlash as well. Trustee Beverly Sussman, who had opposed moving the plan forward to the planning and zoning commission for review, took out petitions to run for village president in April 2015.

Now, Village Manager Dane Bragg said, Buffalo Grove will evaluate future options and engage the community in a broader dialogue about economic development around the Lake-Cook Road corridor.

"We should take stock of where we are as a community, what goals we want to accomplish and the means necessary to get us there," he said in a statement Tuesday. "Economic development is a complex endeavor and one that needs broad engagement from all stakeholders, because everyone is impacted."

Braiman said there are no other candidates for developing a downtown. In fact, in the two years since Malk first floated his proposal, no one else has come forward.

When the concept first came up, Braiman said he thought it had great potential.

He said that for years people have been telling him about the need for a downtown, a place where people could shop, dine out and gather as a community.

"This could have been that and also brought to us a significant amount of revenue," he said. "In that regard it's unfortunate we can't do something, but then again, it had to be the right thing. It had to make sense."

Braiman said the village has a new economic development director and will have a new planner soon to replace the retiring Robert Pfeil.

He said the village has not reviewed its comprehensive plan for years and this might be a good time, with new people, to examine not only the Lake-Cook corridor but also the Milwaukee Avenue and Dundee Road corridors.