Plan for Chase Plaza apartments, Buffalo restaurant demolition moves to Buffalo Grove plan commission

Buffalo Grove village trustees on Monday referred a proposal to build apartments at the Chase Plaza shopping center at Arlington Heights and Lake-Cook roads to the village planning and zoning commission.

The plan also calls for the demolition of the former Buffalo restaurant on the outlot at the northeast corner of the intersection.

Louis Schriber III of the Shorewood Development Group and Bob Burk of UrbanStreet Group found the board receptive to the idea before trustees’ unanimous vote Monday.

“(Chase Plaza) honestly was my number one goal, getting this done, because this is our entryway from the west, and everybody sees it when they come into town, and it’s been an eyesore for over a decade,” Village President Eric Smith said.

The center is undergoing a massive reconstruction with crews gutting the former Dominick’s space, which will become a Club Studio and a Sprouts Farmers Market.

The apartment plan is the second phase in the redevelopment of the more than 10-acre site.

Shorewood and UrbanStreet are partnering to build a six-story apartment building with 256 market-rate units and an adjoining parking deck on the east side of Chase Plaza.

Burk said UrbanStreet is aiming at a similar product to those his group has done in other suburban communities.

UrbanStreet’s projects have included the apartments at The Clove development at McHenry and Lake-Cook roads in Buffalo Grove.

Replacing the Buffalo will be a roughly 6,000-square-foot building reserved for a future tenant.

Acquiring the restaurant building and integrating it into the site, Burk said, was an absolute requirement.

He said candidates to replace the Buffalo include higher-end quick-service restaurants.

“There is some financial institution interest too, which helps pay for the development and doesn’t create a lot of traffic as well,” he said.

Schriber told the board he expects Sprouts to open in March or early April.

He said Club Studio is looking at an early-to-mid-summer opening.

Schriber said the western portion of the center will remain under its current owner, which still has viable tenants.

“I also am really happy to see a meaningful redevelopment occurring at Chase Plaza,” Trustee Joanne Johnson said. “We all know this property has faced significant obstacles for many years.”

szalusky@dailyherald.com