Walgreens delay another blow to Sugar Grove

The Sugar Grove village board is expected to approve final plans for a Walgreens Feb. 3 despite a decision by the drugstore giant to delay building until 2012.

It is another example of how the nation's economic woes have slowed development in Sugar Grove to a standstill.

In late 2008, the village's plan commission approved plans for a Walgreens to be built on a two-acre site at the northwest corner of Route 47 and the Galena Boulevard extension. The extension is on schedule to be completed later this year. The parcel is in Prairie Grove Commons, a 44-acre site which has yet to be annexed and rezoned for commercial development.

At Tuesday's village board meeting, staff recommended the board approve the Walgreens' two-acre site for annexation and rezoning in order to clear the path for construction. Other sites at Prairie Grove Commons would not be up for approval of annexation and rezoning until specific development plans are submitted to the village.

Sugar Grove Community Development Director Rich Young, however, has learned that Walgreens has put its plans on the shelf, at least temporarily.

"We thought they would start to build this year, but the developer told us it probably won't be until 2012," Young said. "The only reason they gave us was that it's because of the general economy. We're still hoping they will move the date up."

Village planners had expected a Walgreens would lure other businesses into the vacant Prairie Grove Commons, where no other development proposals are pending, according to Young.

Sugar Grove is not without a pharmacy; there is one in the Jewel-Osco store on Route 47.

Based in Deerfield, Walgreens is the nation's largest drugstore chain with more than 6,000 stores in 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.