Schaumburg approves residential development for long-debated Loeber Farm site

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday appeared to answer a question lingering throughout the 21st century by approving a specific residential development for the hotly debated Loeber Farm property adjacent to Rolling Meadows.

Elmhurst-based Nitti Group’s final plan for the 33 acres off of Meacham Road was for 43 single-family homes, 37 row houses in eight buildings and 42 townhouses among 16 buildings.

It replaced an especially controversial one for 357 apartment, townhouse and rowhome rental units that drew anger from residents and officials in neighboring Rolling Meadows in 2024 before being withdrawn from consideration.

But concerns from nearby residents have been a constant of all the various proposals made by different developers over the past 24 years, particularly for potential flooding impacts on Salt Creek and traffic on a two-lane stretch of Meacham Road.

Those didn’t end either before or after Tuesday’s approval vote.

But this is the first plan to be accompanied by a still pending request to extend northward the nearby tax increment finance (TIF) district helping fund public improvements associated with redevelopment around the intersection of Algonquin and Meacham roads.

Necessary improvements for the Loeber property are considered extraordinary and include water and sewer utilities, a bridge over the creek and a sanitary lift station due to the elevations on the site, Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said.

Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly believes a TIF district might also help control the costs of developing the site which were likely responsible for the higher density of earlier proposals.

Furthermore, the village would want such assurances a bridge was capable of supporting the weight of fire engines. Such a bridge would likely require at least $1 million for its construction, Dailly said.

The total development cost of the Nitti proposal is estimated at $82 million. The village is considering giving $4.8 million to eligible projects from the $17 million in TIF revenue the site is expected to generate during the remaining life of the district.

A TIF district can last for up to 23 years, but the one proposed to be extended is already 12 years old. The time remaining is enough to generate the money needed for public improvements, Frank said.

Since 1948, the former farmland has been owned by the same family that operates Loeber Motors in Lincolnwood.

Frustrated by the inability to sell to a developer whose plans met the approval of Schaumburg officials, the family filed to disconnect the land from the village in 2020. That lawsuit was dismissed the following year.

But trustees had approved Toll Brothers' 2005 proposal for a 55-home development before the company walked away. Dartmoor Homes then submitted a somewhat similar proposal in 2007 shortly before the Great Recession's devastating impact on the housing market.