Glenview accuses Prospect Heights of violating boundary deal by pursuing Allstate annexation
Glenview officials last week claimed Prospect Heights has stated its intention to pursue annexation of the 202-acre former Allstate campus in Northfield Township, and that such an annexation would violate a 25-year-old boundary agreement between the two municipalities.
Prospect Heights Attorney John O'Driscoll said his city had no comment on Glenview's statement other than that it was aware of it and would be speaking with Glenview officials soon.
Glenview officials indicated the Allstate campus is described as Territory D within the Milwaukee Road and Sanders Road Corridor Agreement between the two communities, which specifies that Glenview alone has the right to its annexation and that Prospect Heights shall not object to Glenview's annexation.
But David Just, community engagement manager for Glenview, said Prospect Heights notified his village in late March that it intends to seek annexation of the former Allstate campus itself.
Glenview Village President Mike Jenny issued a written statement on his government's position.
"We are disappointed to learn that Prospect Heights is now attempting to annex the former Allstate campus," Jenny said. "This violates our long-standing agreement and partnership with Prospect Heights, and our community intends to take any and all actions necessary to enforce the terms of the agreement that governs annexation and development of this property."
The statement added that Glenview strongly encourages Prospect Heights to respect the communities' long-standing partnership and continue to abide by the promises made when the agreement was negotiated and approved.
Though the former Allstate campus has often been associated with Northbrook, it was never in that village and a boundary agreement with Glenview makes clear that Northbrook would have no claim to it, Northbrook Village Manager Cara Pavlicek said.
Late last year, Dermody Properties reached an agreement with the Allstate Corporation to purchase 232 acres there for $232 million.
That pending purchase includes 30 acres to the west of Sanders Road that abuts the Dam 1 Woods forest preserve and includes Allstate Insurance West, which is in Prospect Heights.
The larger, 202-acre portion is the main Allstate campus at 3075 Sanders Road, from Willow Road south to the residences around Concord Lane in unincorporated Northfield Township.
Dermody is a privately held real estate investment management company headquartered in Reno, Nevada, but with a Midwest office in Rosemont. It specializes in logistics real estate in the U.S.
At the time the purchase agreement was reached, Dermody Properties President Douglas A. Kiersey Jr. said he believed a logistics building - traditionally known as a warehouse or distribution center - could serve about a million people within a 10-mile radius.
He added that development would be driven by customer demand, but expected that once construction began the entire site would take two to four years to complete.
Kiersey described a very preliminary site plan as including 11 buildings for a total of 3.2 million square feet.
He further expressed interest in retaining as many mature trees as possible on the site to keep an office campus feel for the logistics buildings.