Sears bankruptcy, racetrack-casino merger among top stories in the Northwest suburbs

Here's a look at some of the top stories in the Northwest suburbs during the last year:

A retailer's decline

After years of declining sales, heavy debt and huge financial losses, Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. finally filed for bankruptcy in mid-October, leaving the future of thousands of jobs at its headquarters up in the air at year's end.

Sears, for decades the world's largest retailer and the company that built what once was the world's tallest building, changed the face of retailing first with its mail-order catalogs and later with its national network of department stores.

Sears' erosion began decades ago as the chain's approach of offering all things to all customers came under attack with the spread of discounters such as Walmart that appealed to lower-end customers, big-box retailers that cut into sales of segments such as electronics and appliances, and specialty and luxury retailers that bled off higher-end customers. More recently, online retailers such as Amazon have added to the challenge.

Sears has closed hundreds of stores in recent years in a bid to cut expenses.

It's unclear if efforts to restructure as a smaller company under court protection have much chance of success.

The company's leader, hedge fund operator Eddie Lampert, has made a $4.4 billion bid to salvage about 425 stores, marketing it as a way to preserve about 50,000 jobs. It comes with conditions and whether creditors who distrust some of his past financial moves will go along is in doubt. They may feel they would get a better return through liquidation of the remaining assets.

"Too much rot has set in at Sears to make it viable business," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, told Bloomberg. "The brand is now tarnished just as the economics of its model are firmly stacked against its future success."

Fall from grace

The #MeToo movement caught up with the founder of evangelical megachurch Willow Creek as Senior Pastor Bill Hybels was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with former employees and members.

The allegations, first published in March in the Chicago Tribune, were vigorously denied by Hybels, and the church's leaders initially stood behind him, citing extensive investigations they had made that found the allegations unsubstantiated.

The allegations came halfway through a transition year which was to mark the of end Hybels' 43-year ministry with Heather Larson taking over as lead pastor and Steve Carter as lead teaching pastor.

"I have a wife I've been married to for 44 years, and she has to read this junk," an emotional Hybels told a gathering of about 3,000 church members after the initial report. "I respect women. I have never been unfaithful to my wife."

A little more than two weeks later, though, Hybels announced that he was retiring effective immediately and apologized for how he had responded to the allegations even as he continued to deny them. Hybels said he "too often placed myself in situations that would have been far wiser to avoid."

Ten days later, Christianity Today published new allegations, and church leadership began backing away from Hybels and intensifying its scrutiny of his past conduct.

Then at the beginning of August, Carter resigned, saying he was horrified by new accusations in a New York Times story from a former assistant who said Hybels repeatedly groped her in the 1980s. Hybels denied the charges.

A few days later, church officials said Larson also was stepping down and that the entire elder board would follow suit by the end of the year.

"In recent days and weeks it's become clear to me that this church needs a fresh start," Larson said.

Steve Gillen, the lead pastor of Willow Creek's North Shore branch, is interim pastor of the church as it works to set up the new pastoral team.

Larson retires

Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson announced in November that he won't seek reelection to a ninth term, ending his run as one of the most important and prominent mayors in the history of Chicago's suburbs.

In his 32 years as mayor and prior 12 years as a village trustee, Larson was a key figure in the 62-year-old suburb's evolution from a longtime farming area populated by German immigrants to the second-largest hub of economic activity in Illinois.

Larson, who had moved to Schaumburg from Chicago in 1969, had no sense that he could influence local government until he wrote a letter complaining about snowplowing and then-Schaumburg Mayor Bob Atcher responded with a personal phone call.

That call changed the trajectory of Larson's life, as he soon became a member of the Schaumburg United Party, the Schaumburg Jaycees and the Schaumburg Environmental Committee, was appointed the village's public relations director and then in 1975 was elected village trustee.

Fire fallout

The aftereffects of a spectacular fire in July that displaced 95 families and did $10 million in damage to a Prospect Heights condominium complex will continue to be felt long into the new year.

The hourslong battle to put out a fire accidentally started by a juvenile at River Trails was one of the biggest such efforts in the region since the 1985 fire at Arlington Park. Approximately 50 departments and 200 firefighters responded.

Afterward, donations poured in at The Bridge Community Church to help the families facing long-term displacement.

In October, with permits in hand and insurance claims settled, demolition and reconstruction work began on three structures. A fourth, less-damaged building is being renovated.

Condo association President Bob Levin said it's hoped that residents can move into the renovated units in July, while the three new buildings should be ready for occupancy late next year.

Merger gamble

The state's premier racetrack and premier casino, facing the likelihood of state approval of gambling expansion next year, decided to join forces in a deal announced in late October.

Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen said the company plans to buy a majority share of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines for $500 million out of a desire to expand into other avenues of gambling not currently permitted at Arlington Park racecourse in Arlington Heights. The casino is adjacent to the nation's second-busiest airport and in the middle of the country's third-largest metropolis.

The acquisition will put the company in "an excellent competitive position in a casino gaming market we have always valued as we work with the Illinois legislature and executive branch to determine the future of our Arlington Park racetrack," Carstanjen said.

"It was important for us to have a long-term presence in Illinois where we thought we have access to new products … that might become available over time. Arlington Park does not have slots or table games or any kind of clear access to additional products."

Downtown rebuild

Mount Prospect's downtown is finally taking off a decade after the disastrous flameout of a previous major push which finally died in the economic collapse of 2008. The futility of that effort may have been best exemplified by the $6.5 million the village paid out in 2014 to avoid going to trial on a racketeering lawsuit by Ye Olde Town Inn owner Tod Curtis, who was unhappy with how his own redevelopment plans had been treated.

In March, village trustees approved the 20 West mixed-use development on the site commonly known as the Busse Triangle. It includes a six-story apartment building and restaurant.

"We feel this is going to be a catalyst to development throughout the downtown area," said developer Nick Papanicholas Jr.

That same night, trustees approved a $7 million, 12-unit rowhome development called Park Terrace at 15-19 N. Elmhurst Ave.

And the village is currently reviewing the proposed Maple Street Lofts development, a public-private partnership with developer Nicholas and Associates that would include an eight-story luxury apartment building, row houses and retail space on the former Parenti and Raffaelli property 215-225 E. Prospect Ave. Plans include improvements to the village's Metra commuter lot, including a possible parking deck.

At the same time, the village is pursuing plans to move the police and fire headquarters out of inadequate buildings downtown. The plan is to spend about $10 million buying and converting a former bank building at 111 E. Rand Road into the fire headquarters and about $27 million converting a building at 799 Biermann Court into the new police headquarters.

Construction on both projects is expected to begin in spring 2019, with work expected to take about a year for each.

Converting a campus

Shortly before Sears moved its headquarters from what was then the world's tallest building to a low-rise office complex anchoring the 800-acre Prairie Stone business park in the far northwest reaches of Hoffman Estates, "Baby Bell" Ameritech moved many of its corporate functions and about 4,000 employees to a 150-acre campus several miles to the east in the same village.

That move in 1991 was followed by vast changes in the communications world that saw Ameritech absorbed by SBC, which later absorbed AT&T and took its name, as what was once known as "Ma Bell," dismembered due to government antitrust suit, reassembled as new forms of communication, such as cellphones and the internet, reduced fears of monopoly powers.

Then a few years ago, AT&T announced it was moving out of the complex, leaving a big hole in the village.

In November, Hoffman Estates approved the rezoning of the campus, which had been vacant for two years, for redevelopment as a community of businesses and multifamily residences called City Works. It is contingent on New Jersey-based Somerset Development completing its purchase of the land within 180 days.

The concept plan calls for 1.2 million square feet of offices, 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 80,000 square feet of conference space in the existing buildings. New construction would add 379 apartments, 171 townhouses and a hotel.

Somerset has done a similar redevelopment of another AT&T office complex in its home state.

Bulldozing history

The last reminder of where Ray Kroc opened his first franchised McDonald's in Des Plaines went into the history books in August, when the 33-year-old replica restaurant building met the wrecking ball.

The one-story concrete block building at 400 Lee St. in January was stripped of some of its signage, including the 63-year-old original neon road sign, which McDonald's said it would restore and preserve elsewhere. McDonald's is donating the land to the city, which is yet to develop plans for the site, though officials have suggested installing a historical marker.

The fast-food giant said it demolished the replica building - which at one time served as a museum of company history - because of its location in an oft-flooded area and the difficulty of maintaining it.

New home for police

Arlington Heights' new police station - at least two decades in the making and slightly delayed by a Nov. 11 car crash into its lobby - got its formal unveiling in mid-December.

The $27.9 million headquarters, built in place of the old station at 200 E. Sigwalt St., is a two-level, 70,500-square-foot building between village hall, which opened in 2008, and fire station #1, built in 2006.

"This police station really completes the hub of our municipal campus here that many people envisioned many years ago," said Mayor Tom Hayes during a dedication ceremony.

Washed away

The "Blue Wave" that swept Illinois in the November election even extended to what had been viewed as solidly suburban Republican Cook County Board seats.

Tim Schneider of Bartlett, a three-term incumbent who is chair of the Republican Party of Illinois, and Gregg Goslin of Glenview, seeking his sixth term, were ousted by political newcomer Kevin Morrison of Elk Grove Village and longtime Glenview Trustee Scott Britton, respectively.

Democrats had sensed an opportunity, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to back candidates in normally uncompetitive races.

"We saw an opportunity to strike while the iron was hot," said Jacob Kaplan, executive director of the Cook County Democratic Party, chaired by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.