Same developer, new idea for Grayslake fairgrounds

Eight years after gaining Grayslake village board approval for a retail project at the former Lake County Fairgrounds that fizzled, a developer is back with a new idea for the property.

SKW Capital Management's Sid Wiener said the current market demands a different proposal on the northwest corner of routes 45 and 120 than what the village board approved in August 2007. He said the retail component in the tentative plan would be joined by single-family houses, medical offices and an assisted-living facility.

"I think we've developed some real positive momentum here," Wiener said in a presentation to a village board committee. "And I know that when I talk to potential tenants on things about the site, I always tell them, 'To the village of Grayslake, this site is like their only daughter.' And we've got to get it right."

Wiener said the recession led to the demise of the 807,000-square-foot retail plaza that would have been built by Deerfield-based SKW and Developers Diversified Realty Corp. of suburban Cleveland. Despite the project going nowhere after the 2007 village board approval, he said, SKW kept its partial ownership of the 106-acre site

Grayslake Business Partnership managing director Michael Stewart said he's been working with Wiener to bring the new development to the shuttered fairgrounds. The group Stewart heads is a nonprofit, public-private initiative seeking to lure new businesses to Grayslake.

Stewart said market research shows the retail development range for the corner is 35 to 50 acres. He said smaller retailers likely won't commit until major stores are under contract.

"We're talking to four anchor tenants the village would be very receptive to," Stewart said.

Under the proposal, the 125 single-family houses would be constructed on the site's west end near the Hunter's Ridge subdivision. Wiener said the medical offices would be near the main entrance off Route 120, with the retail toward the east and the assisted living possibly on the north near Center Street.

Grayslake trustees provided positive feedback about the proposal when Wiener appeared before them at a nonvoting committee session Dec. 1.

"This is our front door," Trustee Bruce Bassett told Wiener. "This is 45 and 120. We only get to do this once, so we want to work with you to make it the best it can be."

SKW Capital Management would have to start the official approval process before the advisory Grayslake plan commission/zoning board of appeals. The panel's recommendation on the proposal would go to the village board, which gets the final say on issues.