Changes are coming to Northbrook’s Village Green Overlay District in the downtown, including the possible sale of the Village Green Shopping Center at 1310 to 1348 Shermer Road.
The three-story storefront retail/office Village Green Shopping Center, built in 1999, and which also has 10 apartments, 200 parking stalls, and tenants with average lease tenures of more than 23 years, hit the market in mid-February, confirmed its listing agent, who did not divulge details including price. The seller did not return phone calls to Pioneer Press.
Impacted storefront names include Leonidas Chocolate Cafe, Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, Kamahachi and Baskin Robbins.
View the listing at https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1310-1348-Shermer-Rd-Northbrook-IL/31071151/.
The Village Green Shopping Center listing comes as Northbrook is rewriting its zoning code. The village hired consultant Houseal Lavigne to draft the “New Zoning Code Diagnostic Memo.”
Trustees will consider refining zoning code changes in sections with the new code approved as a whole at the end of the process.
The zoning code was discussed at the Feb. 27 Village Board meeting by trustees and the Plan Commission in a joint meeting.
The meeting took place despite a tornado warning that Tuesday night which had Northbrook residents sheltering in basements or in lower levels of community buildings such as at the North Suburban YMCA (NSYMCA).
The village’s Facebook page, which was livestreaming the board meeting, received negative comments. One social media poster said the meeting should have been canceled and for, “everyone go to a safe place!”
Nicholas Glenn, the village’s communications manager, told Pioneer Press via email, “We did go to the basement when the warning was issued,” and that weather was monitored with the help of the Northbrook Police dispatch center. “They were able to tell us when the danger had passed and we resumed the meeting at that time,” Glenn said.
Downtown Outdoor Dining amid Shermer Road Improvement Plan
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While the show went at Village Hall, the calm before the storm took place at the 6 p.m. Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting.
Here, trustees discussed another document prepared by the same consultant Houseal Lavigne.
The conceptual plan shown on the overhead at the COW meeting was the Shermer Road Improvement Plan. The proposal redefines the outdoor dining experience along Shermer Road in the vicinity of Meadow Road and just past the railroad tracks.
On the north and south side of Shermer Road are nine Bradford Callery Pear trees up for replacement with desired canopy trees. The flowering pear ornamental species, once popular among developers, is now considered invasive and illegal to plant in Ohio, for example, https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/news/Planting-Callery-Pear.
Improvements also call for reworked parking lots and for scrapping temporary barricades in favor of converting on-street parking into pedestrian and dining-friendly areas with the bump out on Shermer Road. Standing tables and seating would be added.
Artificial turf installation is proposed to temporarily accommodate year-round pop-up events and activities on the vacant lot on Walters Avenue west of Meadow Road.
Northbrook Village Trustee Johannah K. Hebl was seen getting up from a COW meeting conference room chair to point out a spot (on the screen) identified by Hebl for urgent improvement on the northwest corner of Shermer Road and Meadow Road.
There, by Eataco/Next-Door lounge restaurant, along its outdoor dining area, a tree, foliage and landscaping structure allegedly attracts unwanted visitors.
“We are excited about the Shermer Road renovation and believe it’s going to help downtown Northbrook drastically and its businesses,” wrote Eataco restaurateur Serah Cicek in a Jan. 16, 2024 email to the village.
But, “The fixture and tree serve no purpose to our corner.
“Instead, it’s become a major headache,” attracting pests including, “flies, bees, and mice.
“Given that we’re a food service establishment, you can imagine this is not a good thing,” Cicek indicated. “Specifically in the summer, we have to deal with customers being annoyed and disgusted with bees and flies while dining at our establishment’s patio, as well as finding random dead mice under our tables.
“They hide and live in the bushes in this fixture,” Cicek wrote. “The tree is rather large and in fall and spring, drops a lot of leaves. “The city does not do a great job in blowing and collecting the leaves.”
Eataco did not return a phone call from Pioneer Press.
Overall feedback by business operators includes concerns that construction could disrupt the summer outdoor dining season, Deputy Director of Public Works Matt Morrison told trustees.
“We need to look at how we can phase this and maybe break it into pieces so that we can minimize the disruption,” Morrison said.
Northbrook Village Manager Cara L. Pavlicek said that with trustee consensus, “Our next step is to circle back with the businesses … on what they are comfortable with.
“So it could be a split season,” Pavlicek said, indicating the Shermer Road block redo could be paced with one side constructed the first year, and the second side the next year.
No construction timeline for the project has been set. The next steps will take into account COW meeting feedback.
Northbrook Village President Kathryn L. Ciesla said, “We now know that we’re not going to be able to look at this necessarily even in full bloom probably until ‘25.
“Keep in mind that the village board wants to move in a direction where the downtown is more inviting and doesn’t look like patchwork,” Ciesla said.
“We’ll kind of see how this lays out.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
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