Buffalo Grove commits $11 million to Rohrman property redevelopment

Buffalo Grove village board members agreed Tuesday to commit $11 million in tax increment financing funding to the redevelopment of the former Rohrman auto dealership property on Dundee Road.

The funding is part of a redevelopment agreement with the Shorewood Development Group, which plans to turn the long-vacant property into Bison Crossing, a mixed-use project that will include a 50,000-square-foot Tesla sales and service center and a 224-unit apartment building.

Shorewood plans to invest approximately $100 million to revive a property that has sat dormant for nearly 14 years.

“The development is faced with extraordinary costs associated with site development, infrastructure and land costs,” Buffalo Grove Community Development Director Nicole Woods said.

The village’s TIF assistance is conditional on the developer meeting benchmarks related to the Tesla and apartment developments.

A TIF district works by freezing property taxes paid to local governments within the area at their current level for the next 23 years. Taxes collected above that level due to rising property values will go to a special fund controlled by the village to pay for public and private improvements.

“The village is not raising taxes or taking on debt to pay for the project,” Woods said, adding that the village will receive 100% of the sales taxes generated from the property.

Shorewood’s Ryan Fitzgerald called the board’s approval of the redevelopment agreement “the next domino to fall, and this is the one that pushes everything over the edge.”

He said once the redevelopment agreement is signed, he will be executing a lease with Tesla. Construction bids are complete, as is the project’s financing, Fitzgerald added. Closing on the property is expected by the end of the month.

Fitzgerald said demolition on the site will began in February, and might take 30 days.

Tesla will begin construction around April or May, with completion targeted for April, 2025

The apartment building is still on track as well, Fitzgerald said.

“(The builders) will close on their parcel with us probably in August or September,” Fitzgerald said.

As for the planned retail component of the project, Fitzgerald said there have been discussions with several potential tenants, including grocery, medical and fitness businesses.