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Possible ex-AT&T campus street name change a sign of redevelopment?

Hoffman Estates officials will soon discuss an at least temporary name change for AT&T Center Drive - the entrance road to the telecommunications company's former campus - but say the switch does not forecast immediate plans to redevelop the vacant site.

But Village Manager Jim Norris said officials are pleased with the progress they've heard from the site's owner about efforts to solicit interest.

If a buyer is found, the name of the entrance road could change again, Norris said. For now the change to simply "Center Drive" will facilitate easier mail delivery to surrounding properties, he said.

Village board members will discuss the proposal at their next planning, building and zoning committee meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, March 19, at village hall, 1900 Hassell Road.

AT&T announced in 2013 that it would vacate the campus and move its 3,000 employees there to other properties in the Chicago area. It took until about two years ago for the campus to become completely vacant, Norris said.

The then owner, Highlands REIT, lost the property through a foreclosure suit filed by U.S. Bank after AT&T stopped paying rent at the end of its lease in August 2016. With the company's departure, the property no longer generated revenue for Highlands, according to the company's May 2016 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Despite the site's changing ownership, the village's responsibility to inspect the property to ensure that the owner is maintaining it remains the same.

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