Doubts remain over Buffalo Grove high-rise development

The Buffalo Grove officials heard a revised proposal for a high-rise apartment complex at the southwest corner of Deerfield Parkway and Busch Parkway, but village trustees still aren’t revising their chilly reception to the plan.

The proposal, from Realtelligence LLC, now calls for 192 units in a four-building complex that includes one nine-story building and three three-story structures.

The initial plan, presented in June, included 208 units on the 4.5-acre site next to the Buffalo Grove Metra station. Because that land has an industrial zoning, developers would need village trustees to rezone the site before moving forward.

Jordan Glazov, an attorney for the petitioner, said Buffalo Grove is an underserved market for apartments, as demonstrated by a recent survey that shows occupancy rates averaging between 95 and 98 percent for its current stock.

The development would serve the need for Transit Oriented Development, given its proximity to the Buffalo Grove train station, he added.

Among the other changes in the revised proposal is an increase in parking spaces, from 225 to 345, to now exceed the village’s standard of 1.7 spaces per unit.

Glazov said the project would add 16 schoolchildren to the local districts and bring in about $700,000 in impact fees and $730,000 a year in property tax revenues.

But density, though lowered from 46.22 units per acre to 42.66, still exceeds the village’s standard of 15 units per acre, an ongoing source of concern among village trustees.

“The density issue was my No. 1 concern. It still is my No. 1 concern,” Trustee Beverly Sussman said. “I still feel there is a density issue.”

Trustee Jeffrey Berman said he is skeptical about the development’s qualifications for Transit Oriented Development (TOD), despite its location by the train station.

“(I) have never believed that this particular train station was well suited to TOD” because of the lack of nearby amenities like a grocery store that residents could walk to, he said.

“It is merely a property that is close to a train station.”

“We’re not saying our property is a TOD. We’re just saying that it would be an appropriate part of a TOD,” Glazov replied. “And the village would be well advised to look into a TOD for this area. This is literally the only game in town for a TOD.”

Trustees took no official action on the proposal Monday.