Senior housing at former Dominick's in Rolling Meadows?
Developers have a new, non-retail idea for the long-vacant Dominick's property on Kirchoff Road in Rolling Meadows - but it might be a tough sell with the city council.
South Bay Partners, a Dallas-based real estate development company specializing in senior housing, will present a plan to the council today that includes independent living, assisted living and memory care.
The tentative plan would include two towers, each three or four stories tall, with a combination of different types of senior living, according to city documents.
This is the first time the board will see a plan that does not involve any retail components for the 11.5-acre site that used to be central to the city's downtown.
"I don't think there's anybody out there who wants to see that parcel be anything other than retail," Mayor Tom Rooney said. "But at some point, when do you take 12 years of being empty as a signal you just can't ignore?"
Dominick's closed in 2004 and the surrounding shopping center fell into disrepair in the years that followed. For the past several years the city has been working with Clark Street Development in an effort to bring a retail-oriented project back to the site. But the company put the property up for sale late last year.
"I think it would be very disappointing for this thing to not stay retail," Rooney said. "But if it's not going to, then this is something I would be open to. Senior living issues aren't going away."
While Rooney may be open to the new proposal, getting it past the rest of the council won't be easy.
He predicted there will be aldermen who don't want to see the site used for anything except retail, but some who would rather see something on the parcel rather than nothing.
"It's very hard to say how it's going to go," he said. "I don't even know how to call this one. I don't know where the council is going to come down."
South Bay Partners has more than 65 senior living projects in 13 states, including The Springs at Vernon Hills, an Alzheimer's facility with 70 units completed in November. The company recently won approval in Lincolnwood for 250 independent-living units, 90 assisted-living units and 50 memory-care units.
The Rolling Meadows committee of the whole will not yet vote on approval for the senior housing project, but it will hear South Bay Partners' presentation and give feedback during the meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at city hall, 3600 Kirchoff Road.