Gas station may replace restaurant on Milwaukee Avenue in Buffalo Grove

Those filling up with food at a Buffalo Grove restaurant may soon instead be filling up their cars at the same location.

The village's planning and zoning commission will be considering a proposal for a Shell gas station and convenience store that would sell beer and wine on a site currently occupied by Wooil, a Korean/Japanese barbecue, at 185 N. Milwaukee Ave.

True North Energy LLC has a contract to purchase the restaurant, with the intention of demolishing the building and replacing it with the station on the 0.9-acre site at the corner of Milwaukee and Riverwalk Drive.

The village board referred the matter to the commission at Monday's meeting, with the one absent member, Andrew Stein, slamming the proposal through a written communication.

True North was founded in 1999, when the family-owned Lyden Co., now known as True North Holdings, formed an equity joint venture with the Shell Oil Co. The Lyden Co. has been in business for 98 years.

Ryan Howard, the company's chief operating officer, told the board the village would gain $150,000 to $220,000 annually in tax revenue from the station.

Howard said there would be a high demand for gasoline, cigarettes and other items because of an absence of retailers for a distance of three or four miles south of Lake-Cook Road.

He added that competition with other stations in the area would put greater downward pressure on consumer prices.

Stein wrote that there are already several similar establishments north on Milwaukee Avenue, with others in the pipeline, including one at the soon-to-be-opened Woodman's. There are also two Shell locations in the area, he said.

"I could understand if this was an underserved area, but this is not the case here," he continued. "The addition of this location will only serve to dilute and harm the existing locations, especially the Buffalo Grove Speedway."

Trustee Jeffrey Berman advised the group to be prepared with hard data on how much tax revenue the station would produce and whether it would be cannibalizing the existing market.