Shorewood stays bullish on Buffalo Grove

Shorewood Development Group wants to get its wheels turning on redeveloping the former site of Rohrman auto dealership in Buffalo Grove.

The locally based developer plans to build a new car dealership and service center, 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of retail space and a mid-rise, luxury residential building at 915-945 Dundee Road, which has sat vacant for 14 years, the Daily Herald reported.

However, funding the project will require a few nifty maneuvers. The developer and local officials realized they needed to create a new Tax Increment Financing District on Dundee Road to generate adequate finances. The Buffalo Grove village board has agreed to allow Shorewood Development Group to receive tax increment financing later down the road.

The tax increment district — which locks in the tax values of properties within its boundaries for 23 years and uses increases in value to aid projects that provide economic development — still has to be given final approval before it’s created. Local officials are studying the impact of doing so further before giving the green light, and will need seven to nine weeks before making a decision on creating the new tax district.

The developer has worked in Buffalo Grove before. Shorewood revamped the southwest corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Deerfield Parkway by building Woodman’s Food Market and a retail center across the street that includes a Starbucks, Mod Pizza and Chase Bank.

Shorewood CEO Louis Schriber III has apparently had his eye on the Dundee Road property for more than a decade.

“What’s driven our pursuit of this and getting it under contract and moving forward is a relationship that we have with a national auto dealership that is very well-known and respected,” Schriber said.

He declined to name the dealership moving to the site. The residential element of the project will be either four or five stories, and it isn’t yet clear how many housing units will be included in that aspect.

According to community development director Nicole Woods, the new tax increment district will comprise the area around the Dundee Road and Arlington Heights Road intersection, the Plaza Verde and Strathmore shopping centers, Buffalo Grove High School and the former Rohrman dealership.

— Quinn Donoghue