Redevelopment of Elk Grove Village gateway corner faces delays

Construction on the anticipated corner gateway redevelopment in Elk Grove Village will be delayed to next year, as village officials and the developer work behind the scenes to fine tune costs and numbers.

Officials are negotiating terms for a redevelopment agreement that would likely include tax-increment financing assistance for the project, where some tax dollars that normally would go to local governments will help pay for the proposed mixed-use development instead.

The village purchased the 10-acre Elk Grove Woods Plaza on the southeast corner of Arlington Heights and Higgins roads, and plans to sell the property to the developer, Mount Prospect-based Wingspan Development Group.

Wingspan's project would transform what is the oldest shopping center in town, with a mix of apartments, townhouses, retail buildings and a pedestrian bridge over Arlington Heights Road that would connect to Busse Woods.

This week, Wingspan formally petitioned the village for a rezoning, special use permit and subdivision of the property. The first step in the process is a public hearing before the plan commission, which would be scheduled for late summer or early fall, according to Mayor Craig Johnson.

The project was to have broken ground as soon as this fall, but the timeline has been pushed into next year, Johnson said.

Plans call for existing businesses Jarosch Bakery, Tensuke Market and Vini's Pizza to move to a new 26,000-square-foot retail building along Higgins Road. V V Nails, 7-Mile Cycles, Subway and three other retailers would have space in a separate 20,000-square-foot building at the corner of Higgins and Arlington Heights roads.

A 5-story, 267-unit apartment building with 9,500 square feet of retail space is proposed along Arlington Heights Road. Two 3-story townhouse buildings of 16 units would border the east side of the site.

While most of the shops in the existing retail strip building remain in operation, demolition just wrapped up on an old bank building, as tenant BMO Harris Bank moved across the street to 450 E. Higgins Road. Rose Garden Cafe's old building is set to face the wrecking ball soon, and its reopening down the block at 800 E. Higgins Road is just days away, officials said. Elk Grove Bowl and the Shell gas station also were demolished.