Former Motorola building saved from demolition proposed for residential use in Schaumburg

The residential conversion of the last Motorola office building left in Schaumburg’s 225-acre Veridian development will be just the start of about $1 billion worth of further work on the former corporate campus suggested to village trustees Tuesday.

In making his informal presentation, UrbanStreet Group Managing Partner Bob Burk noted Tuesday will be the 10th anniversary of his firm’s purchase of the property.

While not easy to to do, Burk said the repurposing of the six-story, 360,206-square-foot former Motorola atrium building would be a poster child for the creative conversion of an office building to apartments. With a similar four-story building to be constructed beside it, the entire project would boast about 300 units and be accompanied by 18 row houses to segue into the adjacent D.R. Horton housing development.

“It’s the only building I left standing, to the chagrin of my partners,” Burk joked of the atrium building. “I’m really excited about it.”

Having spent years working out a solution to the difficult conversion, Burk said interior demolition could start as early as the fall or winter with the existing exterior to be shed in the spring and construction of the second building to start next summer.

Among the other Veridian projects that will follow are a 30,000-square-foot building for a flagship retailer along with a parking garage for it. A 150-room hotel would share some infrastructure with a 150-unit senior living facility. And adjacent to the forthcoming The Fresh Market grocery store at Algonquin and Meacham roads would be a residential tower of 24 or 25 stories.

Meanwhile, the nine-story apartment building nearing completion in the 30-acre, mixed-use area called The District at Veridian will announce its ground-floor entertainment and restaurant tenants within the next two weeks, Burk said.

He explained the completed building for The Fresh Market won’t open until the spring because the company wasn’t expecting to be completed so fast.

“What you showed us, I was just blown away,” Mayor Tom Dailly said. “I’m certainly looking forward to it.”

Burk in turn praised the cohesiveness of leadership he’s known with the village over the past decade. He said the public road network and 12-acre park within the Veridian development is what differentiates its urban feel from a mall.

“We’re poised to move a little quicker than we did in the past,” he said. “Your park is amazing. Suddenly we have a lot of momentum going.”