Long Grove awaits Sunset Foods

One year after it originally hoped, Long Grove is confident it will see the sun rise on a new Sunset Foods.

Ground has been broken on the 141,000-square-foot Sunset Grove shopping center at Route 83 and Aptakisic Road.

Sunset Foods, a proven high-end grocer with locations in Highland Park, Lake Forest, Northbrook and Libertyville, will anchor the $30 million shopping center.

"We are very pleased and optimistic about our new location in Long Grove," said John Cortesi, president and chief executive officer of Sunset Foods.

The Pinnacle Capital Group, the project's owner, announced that in addition to the grocery, CVS Pharmacy, Rosin Eyewear and Zengeler Cleaners will move into the center, which will include 15 additional retailers.

Long Grove has had big plans for the development, expecting it to fuel a tax increment financing district that would generate funds not only for the development itself, but also for improvements to the infrastructure of the historic business district, including lighting and drainage work.

The plan, which has been four years in the making, was derailed for a time by the economic downturn.

The original developer, Mike Firsel of Mid-America Development Partners, targeted August 2009 as the month when Sunset was supposed to open. Now the first stores are expected to open next fall.

Brian Levin, a vice-president of Pinnacle, said after MidAmerica was unable to complete the project because of the economic downturn, Pinnacle Capital Group, a partner in the original plan, was able to successfully negotiate with key stakeholders to get the project back on track.

Firsel, a key member of the original MidAmerica development team, who obtained the zoning and did the groundwork for the project, will remain a consultant.

Long Grove committed $3 million in TIF dollars to the development and also agreed to provide Sunset Foods with up to $1 million in sales tax rebates.

Long Grove Village President Maria Rodriguez said the village has issued bonds that will be paid off from property tax revenue generated by the new shopping center. The bonds won't be paid off with tax dollars from residents, she noted.

Nonetheless, residents living near the project like Haig Bedrosian are upset about commercial development coming to their residential area.

"This is the antithesis of what I thought Long Grove represented," he said.

His biggest fear is that Long Grove will be stuck with a big vacant store at some point in the future, he said.

But Rodriguez said the deal is a good one all around, adding jobs while helping pay to renovate the downtown and attracting complementary businesses.

"Being in the shadow of Sunset Foods is very attractive to a lot of merchants," she said.