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Buffalo Grove considers plan for new Dunkin' Donuts

Buffalo Grove's Planning and Zoning Commission will hear plans to add a 2,800-square-foot stand-alone Dunkin' Donuts with a drive-through at Spoerlein Commons, near Route 83 and Arlington Heights Road.

The addition is about more than three decades in the making.

Community Development Director Chris Stilling told the village board Monday that when Spoerlein Commons was approved in 1983, a second phase with an additional 2,000 square feet of retail space was planned but never built.

Daniel Kovacevic, regional vice president of shopping center owner Whitestone Real Estate Investment Trust, told officials the new building would replace that planned expansion.

Whitestone consultant Rick Burton said the plan calls for moving parking closer to the existing building where the "unbuilt" buildings were intended and use the middle of the parking lot for the Dunkin' Donuts drive-through.

Burton said Dunkin' Donuts has occupied a storefront space in the 41,000-square-feet Spoerlein Commons for 30 years.

"If you have ever been to this one, it is interesting to see that people come up, park, walk in, walk out, and go. So a drive-through would certainly accommodate them and be a boon to their business," he said.

The development has 161 parking spaces, which does not meet code, so the village would need to issue a zoning variance for the project to move forward as planned.

Stilling said one study found that 65 percent Dunkin' Donuts' business is drive-through, reducing the need for parking.

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