Schaumburg ready to buy office complex
Schaumburg officials have opened a $10 million line of credit at a local bank in anticipation of the Friday, Jan. 20, closing on the purchase of an office complex just north of the convention center to redevelop the site as an entertainment district.
The five-year line of credit at Schaumburg Bank & Trust will fund immediate payment of the $6.58 million purchase of the 8.75 acres on which the 110,000-square-foot Woodfield Green Executive Centre lies.
The two single-story office buildings are north of Thoreau Drive and across Meacham Road from Zurich North America's new headquarters.
Village officials have long considered the two buildings an underutilization of a prime location.
But even though the closing on the sale is less than a week away, the time frame of the redevelopment and the accompanying reconfiguration of Thoreau Drive remains uncertain.
Though the village won't start or renew any leases in the office buildings, the expiration dates of the current leases range from 2018 to 2030.
Officials plan to pay back the purchase cost and fund improvements to the site through the tax increment financing (TIF) district that covers the area. But that will expire in 2038, limiting the village's ability to be patient in getting the entertainment district started. In a TIF district, increased tax revenue from growth goes into a special fund to spur redevelopment rather than to taxing bodies such as schools.
Village Manager Brian Townsend said the hope is to negotiate to shorten the longer leases, but condemnation proceedings are a possibility if agreements can't be reached.
Schaumburg Finance Director Lisa Petersen said such negotiations can't begin in earnest until after the village owns the property, but the current preference is that the last tenants leave by December 2019. It's hoped the businesses in Woodfield Green will remain in Schaumburg and that the village's community development department can help them find other office space in the town.