Elk Grove considers proposals for former shopping center

After spending more than $17 million on behalf of taxpayers to assemble real estate needed to redevelop Elk Grove Village’s oldest shopping center, local officials are eyeing four different proposals ranging in scope from 158 housing units to 319.

Village leaders in the northwestern suburb held an open house for residents to consider the ideas for the 10-acre Elk Grove Woods Plaza at South Arlington Heights and East Higgins roads, the Daily Herald reported. The village requested proposals from nine developers in September and received responses from four, who it has not yet identified as it considers which to engage, though two were determined by the newspaper.

About a year ago the village bought the Elk Grove Bowl bowling alley for $2 million and the adjacent retail strip for $10.7 million, shortly before buying the Shell gas station at the corner of the block for $5 million. The bowling alley was recently demolished.

The village tried shielding the names of the developers behind the proposals from the public because officials felt identifying them could influence some residents’ opinions of the projects, although two were uncovered based on village documents that hadn’t been entirely scrubbed of identifying information at the time of their release.

Proposal A (City of Elk Grove)

Proposal A called for a four-story, 282-unit apartment complex with 384 parking spaces and four commercial buildings. The commercial portion of Proposal A will include restaurant and retail space and be separated from the residential portion by an 8-foot wall. The developer said construction could begin by April 2024 and be completed by December 2025.

Proposal B (City of Elk Grove)

Synergy Construction was identified as the developer behind Proposal B, which would include the most total housing units. It calls for a five-story, 319-unit apartment complex as well as a parking garage, 30 two-bedroom rental townhomes and 35,000 square feet of retail. The construction timeline calls for the retail portion to be built first, followed by the apartment complex and then the townhomes. The full project would be completed by March 2027.

Synergy’s other recent area projects include a four-story, 165-unit apartment building it’s developing on a site it’s buying for $1.2 million from the village of Mudelein, just south of the village hall, as part of a project approved last month.

Proposal C (City of Elk Grove)

Back in Elk Grove Village, its Proposal C calls for two segments called The Groove and The Grove. The first will be an 80-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail and the second will be a 4.5-story, U-shaped apartment complex with 126 residential units. Plans also call for 32 three-story rental townhomes and two single-story commercial buildings.

Proposal D (City of Elk Grove)

Proposal D, which was submitted by Mount Prospect-based Wingspan Development Group, calls for a five-story, 267-unit apartment building called Elk Woods Lofts. The project will also include 11,000 square feet of retail and 16 three-story townhomes. Proposal D also includes a 26,000-square-foot retail building with a clock tower, and another 22,000-square-foot retail building along Higgins.

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