Mayor: Hoffman Estates adding more entertainment, homes
New businesses - and entertainment opportunities in particular - are beginning to proliferate in the western part of Hoffman Estates, Mayor Bill McLeod said Wednesday in his annual state of the village address at the Sears Centre Arena.
The arena is proving to be the draw for those businesses. Later this year, the arena will welcome the Windy City Bulls Development League basketball team and receive a significant capital improvement in conjunction with its 10th anniversary.
Those who attended McLeod's address during the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce & Industry's breakfast also saw the skeletons of the Main Event family entertainment center and a Duluth Trading Co. store taking shape just outside the arena.
And after a successful first season for the Dasbier Garden beer garden on the Village Green in the surrounding Prairie Stone Business Park, Hoffman Estates officials are considering a two-year renewal of its license, McLeod said.
Ben Gibbs, general manager of the village-owned Sears Centre, said the area seems on the verge of realizing its potential.
"I think we're finally hitting our stride with this entertainment district," he said.
Progress on the full tollway interchange at Barrington Road continued in 2015 and its completion is something to look forward to in 2016, McLeod said. The full interchange could finally spur the market for the Meijer property north of the tollway that was never developed, he said.
On the subject of creating incentives for development, McLeod said the village is still awaiting state approval of two proposed Enterprise Zones. One is a renewal and expansion of an existing enterprise zone that includes the Prairie Stone Business Park, and the other an entirely new zone surrounding the soon-to-be-vacated AT&T campus.
If approved, Hoffman Estates would be able to offer businesses exemptions on the local share of sales tax on the purchase of building materials, as well as on the local share of utility taxes, under certain conditions.
The village also awaits completion of Adesa Inc.'s 65-acre wholesale auto auction facility just west of the Prairie Stone Business Park. The facility will employ about 150 full-time and 100 part-time workers.
McLeod said 2015 was the first year since the recession in which there was significant residential development in the village.
The Bradwell Estates subdivision will feature 17 single-family homes, and 82 more are expected with the development of the Bergman family farm at Algonquin and Ela roads.
McLeod said there have not yet been takers on the village's request for proposals to restore the old Bergman farmhouse. The village has no plans to fund a restoration, but McLeod believes the structure still has a lot of potential to be a landmark for posterity.
"You'd get the building for nothing," he said. "I think that's a pretty good incentive."
While Hoffman Estates is home to several unique businesses for the region, it still lacks a hardware store.
"This has become the new Holy Grail after the Barrington Road interchange," McLeod joked. "It's very frustrating when you have to go to another town and you're trying to do something with your house."
One attendee wondered if all the new construction the village is experiencing would necessitate a new fire station.
"I'd be surprised if we'd ever have to build another fire station," McLeod replied. "But you never say never."