Is The Clove at a crossroads?

Let’s start with the good news about recent construction developments in Buffalo Grove.

The Adriane Johnson Amphitheater outdoor performance space is outstanding. The prospect of construction projects producing better flowing east-west traffic along a newer and wider Lake-Cook Road is a big plus.

And then, there’s The Clove. The promise of redeveloping shops, eateries and other businesses into what the village’s website calls, “a new, modern central entertainment and residential district,” has so far yielded a divided compound of confusion. One side features a stretch of storefronts bookended by a bowling and gaming center, while the other is now dominated by an apartment block and parking garage monstrosity that looks out of place and already out of date.

Along The Clove’s eastern edge are newer fast-food structures that almost look like they’re turning their backs to those on Route 83 — franchise restaurants that are more everyday common than special occasion. Connecting The Clove, sort of, is a wide expanse of terrain once used for parking cars that is supposed to be home to a future single-acre park. Can we have more green space and less asphalt, please?

Something that’s billed as so positive for the surrounding community should not look so visually draining in its development.

The Domaine At Hawthorn Row property in Vernon Hills or Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect show how urban, citylike living is nicely woven into suburban retail surroundings, generating an organized and upscale community vibe instead of a disjointed puzzle of properties struggling to fit together.

Can Buffalo Grove and property developers adjust their game plan, so The Clove becomes a proud community symbol and a magnet for economic development? What we can’t afford is to cut the ribbon on a major development aimed at attracting attention which ends up falling far short of expectations.

Eric Scott

Buffalo Grove