Chicago suburbs battle over right to annex former Allstate campus

A fight is brewing between two of Chicago’s suburbs over land that will be redeveloped into warehouses.

Nevada-based developer Dermody Properties bought Allstate’s former headquarters at 2775 Sanders Road for $232 million with plans to redevelop the 232-acre property, Crain’s reported.

Plans to build 11 warehouses totaling as much as 3.2 million square feet on the site are contingent on securing support from the local government. However, as the campus is primarily on unincorporated Cook County land, it’s not yet clear which governments need to approve the project.

The campus borders Glenview, Northbrook and Prospect Heights, so Dermody could petition one of those municipalities to annex the site and provide basic infrastructure services to the property.

Two of the suburbs, Glenview and Prospect Heights, are battling over which one of them has the right to annex the site and benefit from the likely millions of dollars of new tax revenue it would generate.

A spokesperson for the Village of Glenview told Crain’s that Prospect Heights officials told them in March that they would attempt to annex the property. Glenview says that violates a long-standing agreement about annexations between the two suburbs.

The 1997 intergovernmental agreement, which is active for 50 years, specifically mentions the Allstate property and says that Glenview would be allowed to annex the property and Prospect Heights would not.

“Our community intends to take any and all actions necessary to enforce the terms of the agreement that governs annexation and development of this property,” Mike Jenny, president of the Village of Glenview, said in a statement.

Prospect Heights officials plan to speak with Glenview about the deal soon, a lawyer for the city said.

Dermody and Prospect Heights have discussed annexation and rezoning the site, however it’s not yet clear if either has formally filed a petition for annexation.

[CCB] — Victoria Pruitt