Elk Grove gateway project gets $700,000 more in public funds
Elk Grove Village is giving the developer of a key gateway corner $700,000 more in tax increment financing district funds for higher-than-expected environmental and site costs.
Village officials agreed to increase the amount of incremental revenue pledged to Mount Prospect-based Wingspan Development Group from $24.5 million to $25.2 million, under revisions to their Jan. 23, 2024, redevelopment agreement inked last week.
The money comes from a village-controlled TIF fund set up in 2022 — where property taxes above a certain level were directed away from schools and other local governments — to fuel redevelopment of the former Elk Grove Woods Plaza on the southeast corner of Arlington Heights and Higgins roads.
Now called The Vue, the $100 million refurbished shopping center is finishing the first phase of construction with the opening of two new retail buildings totaling 46,000 square feet. That’s where longtime tenants Jarosch Bakery, Tensuke Market, Vini’s Pizza and 7 Mile Cycles relocated in recent weeks.
They vacated the original 1959 retail strip building, which is set to face the wrecking ball soon and make way for the planned residential phase of development.
Addressing soil contamination left by a former dry cleaners is among the additional costs for which the developer sought reimbursement through the TIF.
Wingspan received a No Further Remediation Letter from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, but the increased scope of testing led to higher costs, company CEO and Managing Director Nick Papanicholas Jr. wrote in a letter to Village Manager Matt Roan.
Papanicholas said his crews also encountered unsuitable soils during excavation and balancing of the site where the two new retail buildings were constructed. Workers had to over-excavate, back fill and compact to make the ground suitable to support the building foundations, he said.
The developer also noted a “significant” change order to demolish and replace sidewalks and rework site improvements at the corner. That was prompted by the Cook County Department of Transportation requiring removal of the existing crosswalk due to the village’s construction of a $9 million pedestrian bridge over Arlington Heights Road.
Next to come in development of the 10-acre site: a 5-story, 538,000-square-foot apartment building with 271 units, a pool, parking garage and ground-floor retail. Also planned are 16 3-story townhouses spread across two buildings.