Berger Asset Management Advances Hawthorn Woods Town Center

Development is moving forward on a long-vacant corner in Hawthorn Woods after more than 15 years of false starts.

Berger Asset Management is kicking off the first phase of its Hawthorn Woods Town Center project, a grocery-anchored development planned for a 20-acre site at Old McHenry and Midlothian roads, the Daily Herald reported.

The move comes after the village approved a set of zoning changes and tax incentives earlier this year to unlock the site’s long-term potential.

To sweeten the deal for potential tenants, the village is offering up to $1.5 million in sales tax rebates and a 33 percent rebate on village and state grocery taxes for any food store larger than 4,000 square feet, for a term of 15 years.

The developer expects to announce tenants soon, Berger Asset Management head Jonathan Berger told the outlet.

The property, divided into eight parcels with a ninth in negotiation, was rezoned to reduce setbacks from 300 feet to 30 feet, a shift that Berger said brings the site in line with typical retail standards. Permitted uses now include gas stations, restaurants, pharmacies and coffee shops with drive-thrus. The site has also been approved for a car wash and a grocery store.

The development, expected to generate up to $1 million in annual tax revenue once built out, has long been complicated by its location near a freight rail line that frequently clogs traffic on Old McHenry Road. A planned underpass to resolve the congestion is tentatively scheduled to begin construction in 2029 under Lake County’s five-year improvement program. Berger said construction on the town center’s first phase will begin in advance of that infrastructure project.

Berger acquired the site, along with a neighboring 20-acre parcel, in 2009. It sold the southern portion in 2019 for a 70-home residential development. The firm is also behind the Concourse Chicago office redevelopment, near O’Hare.

— Judah Duke