Industrial Growth Swallows Residential Pocket in Schaumburg

A Schaumburg neighborhood is set to vanish under a proposal for two massive warehouses next to Experior Logistics’ trucking hub.

Chicago-based Logistics Property Company lined up contracts for all 25 parcels along Long Avenue, including 19 homes, to make way for a pair of speculative industrial buildings totaling 436,500 square feet on 70 acres, the Daily Herald reported. The company expects to close on the properties this winter.

For homeowners, the shift is bittersweet. Dina Menini, who has lived on Long Avenue for 25 years, said she once couldn’t imagine leaving. But the arrival of Experior’s 55-acre campus, and the round-the-clock noise of idling trucks, upended the rural atmosphere that drew residents there.

“Nobody’s going to want to buy our houses,” she told the outlet. Menini, who owns a trucking company herself, described Logistics Property’s offer as fair, but admitted the sale is emotional.

The homes, most built in the 1960s and 1970s, will be demolished if the project proceeds. Menini said she rebuilt her home 11 years ago. Some land in the assemblage is owned by the village, and Schaumburg officials are already weighing how to support the redevelopment. The village is considering annexation and a tax-increment financing district to fund infrastructure improvements tied to the project.

A study commissioned by the village projected the site’s equalized assessed value would grow from $2.8 million today to $53.5 million over the 23-year life of a potential TIF. A review board of local taxing bodies meets later this month, with possible approval in December.

If greenlit, the development would cement the transformation of this southwest Schaumburg pocket from a residential enclave into a logistics hub.

The city’s deal with Experior included a requirement for Experior to construct a bike path connecting Schaumburg’s Metra Station to Rodenburg Road through the property, according to city documents. Its complex includes a 140,000-square-foot headquarters, warehouse space and a filling station for trucks.

— Eric Weilbacher