Northbrook board praises development proposal for former Grainger site

An abridged version of the Northbrook village board's opinion of the proposal for the former Grainger site is as follows:

Yes, yes and yes.

Having on May 10 adopted an ordinance authorizing a $10.5 million purchase and sale agreement with Lennar Multifamily Communities for the village-owned 10.38-acre plot at 1657 Shermer Road, the board returned Tuesday to review the proposal's zoning ramifications.

As owner of the site, the village had selected the purchaser and seen the plan. To say board members were pleased might be an understatement.

"We're generally up here familiar, and I might say ecstatic, overjoyed or at the very least happy with much of this development," trustee Bob Israel said.

Michaela Kohlstedt, Northbrook director of Development & Planning Services, reiterated the Lennar proposal, a planned development which will require rezoning as a Village Green Residential and Commercial District, the distinction for predominantly residential developments in or near downtown Northbrook.

Lennar plans a five-story luxury apartment complex of 335 units, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, wrapped around a six-story parking garage holding 500 parking stalls. The 8.89-acre plot would include green space, guest parking, and amenities such as an outdoor pool.

A 6,500-square-foot building housing a restaurant or other retail client, with 62 more parking spaces, also is part of the package. Facing Shermer Road, and with the possibility of rooftop dining, the retail component thrilled the board.

Five of those 335 units would be dedicated as affordable housing. To comply with Northbrook's Affordable Housing Ordinance, Lennar is to donate 1.49 acres to the north to a co-applicant, Housing Opportunities Development Corporation.

In a rectangular, four-story, 53-foot-tall building, the nonprofit developer will provide 48 units - one-, two- and three-bedrooms - of supportive housing for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities. Housing Opportunities said the apartments, served by 62 more parking stalls, will be affordable to households earning less than 60% of the area median income.

The development presents plenty of questions and aspects that will need zoning relief beyond basic rezoning from its dual industrial and residential status, or having more than one main structure on a zoning lot.

Waivers, amendments or variations would be required for such things as slope of the parking stalls and ramps, for the setback distance of the HODC building, for building height - the elevator bay in the Lennar complex parking garage rises 75 feet - while minimum lot area would be reduced.

Trustee Johannah Hebl said that according to village consultants, density is a driver of downtown investment.

On seven policy questions posed to the board in the presentation, trustee Dan Pepoon said: "The answer is yes for me on all of them."

Before sending the proposal to a future public hearing before the Northbrook Plan Commission, board President Kathryn Ciesla and the trustees did bring up some points to consider.

Among them were a pedestrian connection to Metra and a wide walkway down Shermer Road; integration of affordable units within the complex (the board previously lampooned the concentration of such units in a dashed proposal for the Green Acres site); accessible parking for guests; parking ramp slope in winter weather; and Ciesla's urging "out of the box" thinking toward an exciting restaurant concept.

Trustee Heather Ross, one of the stewards of the village's Climate Action Plan, spoke for all in seeking a range of sustainable options, such as recycling and composting facilities, solar panels, native landscaping and more.

Overall, though, the proposal earned big kudos.

"We've worked with you for countless hours to get to this point," Pepoon said to the applicants seated in the Sandy Frum Board Room.

"The bidding process that we had you go through resulted in this wonderful thing that we have in front of us. So proud that we've gotten to this place. You won because you listened to us, our hopes, our dreams, maybe our demands, and we appreciate that."