Buffalo Grove approves change in Link Crossing agreement
This story has been updated to correct the action taken by the Buffalo Grove village board.
Despite concerns from a pair of trustees, the Buffalo Grove village board this week approved a measure assigning a new owner to the annexation and development agreement for the Link Crossing development.
The developer, K. Hovnanian Homes, is selling the 50-acre site to an Arizona-based assessment management firm. Under the plan, the New Jersey company will later buy back the parcels from CDCG Asset Management when they are ready to construct the planned 187-home development near Aptakisic and Buffalo Grove roads.
Trustees David Weidenfeld and Gregory Pike voted against the resolution after raising concerns about K. Hovnanian's possibly backing out of the project and leaving the property in the hands of the Arizona firm.
"What I'm concerned about is the parts that can go wrong for us," Weidenfeld said. "We have never seen the quality of their (CDCG's) work. We have never seen anything that they do."
Pike cited his subdivision, where the builder went out of business after completing three-quarters of the project.
K. Hovnanian officials said land bank financing is similar to bank debt and has been used by the company for projects in Lisle, Naperville, South Elgin, Winfield and Arlington Heights.
"Instead of giving them a mortgage, they take the title and we (eventually) get it back as we're ready to do phases, unless we default with them, and we don't plan on doing that," Lawrence Freedman, the developer's attorney, added.
"We'll be getting it all back and we'll be selling every single lot."
If K. Hovnanian defaulted and CDCG sold to another developer "that entity would have to come back before you" and abide by the plan approved by the village, Freedman said.
The village board approved the Link Crossing plan in January. It calls for 68 clustered single-family homes and 119 townhouses on the 50-acre site.