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New road to pave way for Motorola redevelopment

A Schaumburg committee has recommended spending nearly $10.2 million for the final engineering and construction of a central roadway through the former Motorola Solutions campus, enabling the ambitious redevelopment of 225 acres there.

The work would bring the first physical change to the longtime corporate campus in its planned transformation into the Veridian development comprising offices, multifamily housing, stores, restaurants and entertainment venues near the existing Zurich North America headquarters and remaining Motorola building.

"There's a difference between planning and moving dirt," said Bob Burk, managing partner of the site's master developer, UrbanStreet Group LLC. "By starting that construction, it facilitates a perception in the marketplace that this project is going to happen and the municipality is willing to do its part of it."

With the recommendation of its engineering and public works committee, Schaumburg's village board is expected to vote May 8 to award a $678,758 engineering contract to Alfred Benesch & Company of Naperville and a $9.5 million construction contract to Plote Construction, Inc. of Hoffman Estates.

The two contracts would cover the first public improvement of the site to be funded by the tax-increment finance (TIF) district created for the area, Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.

A TIF district works by freezing the amount of property tax local governments receive at the level of the first year. As land values rise, the additional taxes go to a fund earmarked for public improvements. TIF districts expire after 23 years or when all improvements have been paid off, whichever comes first.

The new spine road will connect two existing intersections - from Meacham Road and Drummer Drive to the westernmost access to the site along Algonquin Road. The first several hundred feet west of Meacham already exist, Burk said.

"The goal of it is we want it to feel like a real road rather than entering a campus," he added.

If final approval is granted for the road next month, construction is expected to begin in June and be substantially completed by the end of the year.

Only one specific proposal for the redevelopment is under review by Schaumburg staff - a Topgolf sports entertainment facility on its west side.

While construction traffic for that project wouldn't require the new spine road, customers of Topgolf would get there by using that boulevard, Fitzgerald said.

  A Daily Herald drone photo shows the future site of the Veridian development on the former Motorola Solutions property along Algonquin Road in Schaumburg. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com, 2017
  A Daily Herald drone photo captures traffic moving along Algonquin Road in Schaumburg, right, near the future site of the Veridian development on the former Motorola Solutions property. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com, 2017
  Conceptual artwork for the Veridian development of the Motorola Solutions site along Algonquin Road in Schaumburg. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com, 2017
  Bob Burk of UrbanStreet Group LLC is the main redeveloper of the Motorola Solutions site in Schaumburg. Paul Valade/pvalade@dailyherald.com, 2017
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