Builder looks to exit from Mundelein subdivision

The builder that pursued a more complicated than expected subdivision plan in Mundelein wants out of the project, another apparent example of the tough home building market.

The Mundelein village board said Monday it would revise an agreement regarding the Tall Grass Ridge subdivision, south of Midlothian Road at Courtland Street, which started with great expectations about four years ago but has yielded few completed homes.

According to the changes, Tall Grass Ridge LLC will complete and transfer public and private subdivision improvements to the village and homeowners association respectively, provide letters of credit as guarantees, and, convey a water storage area to the Mundelein Park District.

Tall Grass also has to deposit: more than $37,000 for 93 trees yet to be planted; $58,500 for drainage and sidewalk work; and, a $25,000 bond to assure completion of a home on Lot 41 within four months.

Once those items are done, the path is cleared for the developer to sell the properties and move on.

"They really can't sell the lots to someone else because there are all these encumbrances," assistant village manager Mike Flynn said.

The village won't approve the transfer of the agreement that covers all aspects of the development to a new buyer until these issues are addressed by Grand Pointe Homes, which is doing business in Mundelein as Tall Grass Ridge LLC.

Phone numbers for the local sales office and the corporate office in Elgin were disconnected, and a company official the village has been dealing with did not return a call for comment.

The village in late 2008 declared the builder in default of the subdivision agreement. Several items have since been addressed, Flynn said.

"They seeded it last fall, removed their topsoil pile and cleaned it up. Those were the things the residents were complaining about," he said.

Grand Pointe apparently does not want to hold the property but needs to finish its required work. Of the 39 buildable lots, four are occupied homes, one is a model and another home has remained partially completed for more than a year.

The area is known to generations of Mundelein residents as the Cow Path. It originally was subdivided into lots in the 1920s with scores of owners.

Consolidating those interests into a single property took years, and even then fashioning a subdivision was challenging because of wetland issues.

"It was a difficult piece of property to develop; there were so many strings attached," Flynn said. "We really give them credit for sticking to it."