‘A no-brainer’: Buffalo Grove approves 33-home development at former Schwaben Center site
Buffalo Grove trustees this week unanimously approved a residential development that will transform the former Schwaben Center property into a 33-home community called the Highbury Club.
M/I Homes, the contract purchaser, will develop the approximately 9.5-acre site into single-family homes ranging from 2,360 to 2,732 square feet.
The larger 8.6-acre parcel at 301 Weiland Road, already within Buffalo Grove, houses the now-closed Schwaben Center facility and associated soccer fields. A 0.9-acre parcel at 20311 N. Weiland Road, which the village annexed at Tuesday’s village board meeting, contains a single-family home.
As part of the annexation and development agreement trustees approved Tuesday, M/I Homes agreed to pay Aptakisic-Tripp Elementary District 102 $4,459 per unit in impact fees, totaling $147,149. The developer will also make required cash contributions to Stevenson High School District 125 and the Buffalo Grove Park District.
Julie Workman, attorney for M/I Homes, emphasized the school contributions were designed to keep the fiscal impact on District 102 “neutral to positive.”
M/I Homes will also pay a $1,500 annexation fee for each of the six subdivided lots on the annexed parcel and reimburse the village for any real estate tax payments the village made to the Long Grove Fire Protection District on the annexed property.
The existing pedestrian crosswalk on Weiland Road will be removed since it primarily served soccer field visitors who parked at the Schwaben Center. In its place, an extended southbound turn lane will access to the new community.
Demolition is planned this winter. Earthwork would begin in the spring. The entire project is anticipated to take about two years to complete.
“It's clearly a better use,” Trustee Frank Cesario said. “If you look at what we're using that property for today and look at this plan, it's a no-brainer to me. It seems well thought out. It seems like it will improve our community.”