Schaumburg Approves Housing Plan for Loeber Farm

After more than two decades of false starts, Schaumburg village trustees this week took a decisive step toward resolving the long-running fate of the Loeber Farm site, approving a specific residential development for the 33-acre parcel near the border with Rolling Meadows.

The plan, pitched by Elmhurst-based Nitti Group, calls for a mix of 122 for-sale homes, including 43 single-family homes, 37 rowhouses spread across eight buildings, and 42 townhouses in 16 buildings on land just off Meacham Road, according to the Daily Herald. It replaces a far denser proposal floated two years ago for 357 rental apartments, townhouses and rowhomes — a plan that drew fierce opposition from residents and officials in neighboring Rolling Meadows before it was pulled, the outlet reported.

Community resistance, however, is hardly new at Loeber Farm. The property, off Meacham Road near Algonquin Road, has been the subject of competing visions and political friction since the early 2000s, with neighbors repeatedly raising concerns about flooding along Salt Creek, and traffic congestion on a two-lane stretch of Meacham Road. Those issues resurfaced during deliberations on the Nitti plan and remain unresolved even after Tuesday’s approval, according to the outlet.

The total development cost for Nitti’s project is pegged at $82 million. Schaumburg is weighing extension of a nearby tax increment financing district that would provide up to $4.8 million in TIF assistance for eligible improvements, out of roughly $17 million in revenue the site is expected to generate over the remaining life of the district.

Those costs include new water and sewer utilities, a bridge over Salt Creek and a sanitary lift station necessitated by the site’s elevations, according to Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank. Mayor Tom Dailly said during the meeting that a TIF could help rein in development costs that may have pushed earlier proposals toward higher density. He also flagged the need for a bridge capable of supporting fire engines, a structure he estimated could cost at least $1 million on its own.

Trustees previously approved Toll Brothers’ 55-home plan in 2005, only to see the builder walk away. Dartmoor Homes followed with a similar proposal in 2007, just ahead of the housing market’s collapse, according to the outlet.

The land has been owned since 1948 by the family behind Loeber Motors, which operates a luxury dealership in Lincolnwood. After years of stalled negotiations, the family even sought to disconnect the property from Schaumburg in 2020, though that lawsuit was dismissed a year later.

— Eric Weilbacher