Buffalo Grove’s The Clove continues to take shape
The pieces of the puzzle are gradually filling in at The Clove, a new mixed-use development that’s been under construction at Lake-Cook and McHenry roads in Buffalo Grove since 2022.
Among the most recent additions is a 6,000-square-foot building, about half of which will be home to a Panda Express restaurant. Diners already are eating at new Chick-fil-A and Guzman y Gomez restaurants within the 22-acre, $150 million development.
Buffalo Grove Deputy Village Manager Christopher Stilling said another building planned south of the Panda Express, adjacent to a park area, is expected to be occupied by a sit-down restaurant.
“I think having a diversity of restaurants, whether they be sit-down, full-service or quick service, is what we expected in there,” Stilling added. “I think getting that variety of restaurants is going to be important.”
Stilling said the development is on schedule. The parking deck is complete, while an apartment building is ready for its facade. A grocery store, the name of which has not yet been revealed, also remains under construction, he added.
Two buildings just outside The Clove site, neither under the control of developer Kensington Development Partners, are now vacant, as previous occupants Burger King and Boston Market have closed.
“Ideally, we would like to see everything be improved with more restaurants or redeveloped for new restaurants,” Stilling said.
Approved by the village board in 2022, The Clove is replacing the former Town Center shopping center. It’s been billed by developers as a “modern central entertainment and residential district” featuring a grocery store; a seven-story, 275- to 300-unit apartment building with 16,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor; 65,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space scattered throughout the site; and a “Central Park” for artistic and civic events.
As part of the development agreement with Kensington, the village agreed to contribute as much as $24.75 million in financial incentives to the project’s cost through a tax increment financing district.