New owner for Carol Stream shopping center
Geneva Crossing in Carol Stream has changed hands, and vacant land just north of the shopping center could be redeveloped into a mix of mostly retail buildings, village officials say.
The Tabani Group, a real estate firm based in Dallas, recently bought the shopping center northwest of Geneva Road and Main Street, Community Development Director Don Bastian said. The biggest hurdle facing the new owner is sparking interest in the prominent spot left empty by a Dominick's grocery store.
"We're sort of optimistic that will maybe improve the marketing and prospects for filling that up," Bastian said of the center's purchase.
Dominick's parent company, Safeway, has continued to pay rent, but Bastian said there's still incentive to attract an anchor tenant to drive traffic to existing businesses that include a Lou Malnati's and Goodwill store.
Bastian said he hasn't yet had detailed conversations about Tabani's vision, but hopes to do so shortly after the start of the new year. A representative with the firm did not immediately return a message Monday. Tabani also owns two other shopping centers in Illinois, once of which is the Glen Town Center in Glenview, according to its website.
Geneva Crossings was built in the late 1990s, and open land to the north was considered ripe for the shopping center's eventual expansion.
The site is now owned by David Scheffler, who has pitched a project to construct several buildings on the west side of Schmale Road, Bastian said.
The preliminary plan calls for five buildings, but he's only seeking final zoning approvals from the village for one: a 3,500-square-foot space that would likely house a Sherwin-Williams paint store, Bastian said. The plan also calls for annexing an unincorporated, triangular-shaped property south of a Wendy's into the village.
Altogether, the development would span about 10 acres.
"Right now, they just have a generic layout," Bastian said.
No architectural renderings have been submitted, and a meeting before the village's plan commission hasn't been scheduled.