Plans jell for Whole Foods in Schaumburg

Long-awaited plans for a Whole Foods and possible Crate & Barrel to replace the abandoned and unsightly John M. Smyth Homemakers building in Schaumburg have finally been submitted.

Mayor Al Larson had hoped the project would have started in 2007, but the plans from Palatine-based developer Joseph Freed and Associates were late to arrive.

Although the Homemakers building has been abandoned only a few years, Larson said it's been considered a warehouse-like eyesore since it opened decades ago.

But while formal plans are now submitted, the timing of the village review process still depends entirely on the developer, Community Development Director Christopher Huff said.

"It shows that they are progressing on it, but as to whether they're ready to hit the ground running on this, I can't say if they are and I can't say if they aren't," Huff said. "Things are in kind of a slow pace of development with our projects."

Officials at Joseph Freed and Associates did not return phone calls Wednesday.

The new development will consist of a single, 99,000-square-foot building on the 7-acre site at the southwest corner of Woodfield and Martingale roads.

The property is immediately south of Woodfield Shopping Center and west of Streets of Woodfield.

The Whole Foods store itself is planned to be 65,000 square feet, which would make it one of the chain's larger locations. Company officials said the average size of a Whole Foods store is 55,000 to 60,000 square feet.

The recently submitted plans are vague about the tenant of the two-story, 34,000-square-foot store that would be attached to Whole Foods, but an earlier diagram on the developer's Web site identified it as Crate & Barrel.

There is already a Crate & Barrel location in Woodfield Shopping Center across the street.

A Crate & Barrel corporate spokeswoman said she knew of no plans for a new location in Schaumburg but that it was unlikely the company would maintain two stores so close together.