Thornton's gas station plan in Lake Zurich off for second time in two years

A plan to build a Thornton's gas station at the intersection of Rand and Miller roads is off after the proposal received a chilly reception from the Lake Zurich village board Tuesday night.

Sarosh Saher, the village's community development director, said developers at Bluestone Single Tenant Properties told him Wednesday that they do not intend to proceed.

The plan called for a 5,000-square-foot convenience store and 14 fuel pumps to be built at the southeast corner of Rand and Miller roads. The proposal also called for the village to donate about a third of an acre of what is now Manor Park to the developers.

Several board members expressed concern about the plan. Trustee Jonathan Sprawka asked Mike MacKinnon, the Bluestone Single Tenant Properties partner who presented the plan, whether it could be completed without the land donation and MacKinnon said there wouldn't be enough room.

"If we've agreed that it's a non-starter without the park property, you've got one individual here at this point in time who can't support conveying that property," Sprawka said.

Bluestone has tried to build a Thornton's in the village before. In January 2017, developers proposed a fuel center and store at the old Hackney's site. Rick Claes, managing partner at Bluestone Single Tenant Properties, said last week the firm got the message from local residents and elected officials that its earlier plan wasn't a good fit at that location.

MacKinnon was hopeful at the start of his presentation Tuesday that the newer proposal wouldn't meet the same fate.

"We've learned a lot from scraping our knees on that project and we've moved up the road which we believe is a much more viable project," MacKinnon said.

MacKinnon estimated the project would generate around $150,000 in annual sales tax revenue for the village.