Lake Bluff appears ready to welcome a new coffee shop after the Village Board approved a special use permit Monday for Hansa Coffee.
The Libertyville-based roaster and retailer was granted approval at the April 11 meeting to open a shop at 600 Walnut Ave.
“We’ve had it on the radar to open a second location for a while now,” said Hansa co-owner Tom Maegdlin.
Maegdlin is a former stockbroker and banker who got into the coffee business in 2010. He discovered the open space when consulting with a chain of health food restaurants that was considering the location.
The restaurant chain backed out and the deal was too good to pass up, Maegdlin said.
Hansa’s efforts to obtain a special use permit to operate at that location were originally met with a roadblock.
On Feb. 17, building owner Lake Effect Holdings met with the village’s Plan Commission/Zoning Board of Appeals.
The commission, which is an advisory body, voted against recommending the approval of the special use permit in a 5-2 vote, according to meeting minutes. Concerns over the shop’s impact on parking and traffic in the area were the main concerns, according to meeting minutes.
Robert Douglass, president of Lake Effect Holdings, attended a village board meeting on Feb. 22 and presented a downtown parking study from June 2014 that the village had commissioned.
That study by Rich & Associates suggested competition for downtown parking is at its lowest in the mornings when business at Hansa Coffee would peak, Douglass said.
“I’m a resident of Lake Bluff,” Douglass said. “I was a part of that parking study. Why it was forgotten, I don’t know.”
After the permit was granted, Brandon Stanick, the liaison between the commission and the village government, said it was up to the petitioner to provide that type of information.
Village staff went back to Rich & Associates, which confirmed that any parking or traffic impact would be minimal. The board, based on the new information, referred the issue back to the commission where the issue was heard again on March 16.
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In that vote, four members of the commission recommended the village board grant a special use permit according to meeting minutes. One member abstained.
Maegdlin said he’s pleased with the ultimate approval by the village board.
“We think the board of trustees did a really great job in weighing all the concerns involved,” Maegdlin said.
Hansa Coffee needs to undergo a health inspection, move in equipment and tables and install countertops, Maegdlin said. He expects to open sometime in early May.
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