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Hoffman Estates set to approve massive redevelopment of former AT&T campus

After more than nine months of planning and discussion, Hoffman Estates officials appear ready to sign off on a massive redevelopment of the shuttered former AT&T campus along the Jane Addams Tollway.

Village trustees are holding a special meeting Monday, when they're expected to approve a New Jersey-based developer's plan to replace the onetime corporate center with a mix of multifamily housing, offices, retail space, restaurants, conference facilities and a hotel. Somerset Development, which led a similar redevelopment at the 2 million-square-foot former Bell Labs building in Holmdel, New Jersey, is tentatively calling the project “City Works” and labeling it a “metroburb.”

A key to the project moving forward is the creation of a tax increment financing district for much of the 150-acre site. Through the TIF district, property taxes paid to local governments like schools and park districts will remain at their current level for the next 23 years. Any additional property tax revenue generated by the site's redevelopment will instead go to a separate fund to pay for improvements within the district.

In November, Barrington Area Unit School District 220 was the only one of seven local governments impacted by the TIF not to endorse it, citing concerns about how many students would live in the 380 apartments and 170 townhouses planned for the development.

However, after receiving additional details about the proposal since then, Superintendent Brian Harris said the school district does not oppose the redevelopment.

“The redevelopment plan is what we were looking for,” Harris said. “It looks good.”

Village trustees approved the TIF district last week, setting up Monday's vote on the redevelopment plan.

The former AT&T campus has sat mostly vacant since the company left in 2016.

Somerset officials have said that much of the estimated $116 million redevelopment would occur within the 1.6 million square feet of office space already on the campus, though the housing and hotel components would require new buildings. Once work begins, the project is expected to take between five and seven years to finish, depending on market conditions, officials say.

The special meeting is set for 7 p.m. at village hall, 1900 Hassell Road.

• Staff writer Eric Peterson contributed to this story.

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Vacant corporate campuses await new life

'City Works' concept for AT&T site a go in Hoffman Estates Idea for AT&T site gets the votes despite concerns

Hoffman Estates approves rezoning of AT&T site for redevelopment

Taxing bodies back incentives for AT&T redevelopment in Hoffman Estates

District 220 still has concerns about AT&T campus redevelopment

The Hoffman Estates village board is holding a special meeting Monday night to vote on a proposed redevelopment of the shuttered AT&T campus along the Jane Addams Tollway. Daily Herald File Photo, 2011
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