Arriving well before crowds gathered at the Northbrook Plan Commission’s special public hearing, Lee Goodman started blowing up red balloons.
Goodman brought dozens, inscribed with the slogan, “Stop Pulte” — a reference to real estate developer Pulte Homes, which is proposing to tear down the aging downtown Meadow Plaza shopping center to turn the site into three six-story condominium buildings.
But he couldn’t have brought enough for the nearly 600 people who would swarm the gymnasium at the Techny Prairie Activity Center in protest of the Pulte plan. The hearing was held there due to the projected crowd size.
Goodman, a 37-year resident of Northbrook, told Pioneer Press, “People are angry about this like we’ve never seen in this town.”
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The 587 local residents in attendance, according to a village estimate, turned up early and stayed late for the more than five-hour nighttime meeting, voicing concerns about Pulte’s proposed mixed-use development application, the centerpiece of the Plan Commission’s Oct. 6 meeting.
To the chagrin of many locals, Pulte Homes, the nation’s third-largest homebuilding group, according to its website, is proposing a re-development of Meadow Plaza, one the company labels as the “Flats and Shops at North Branch.”
Pulte’s application calls for the existing shopping center to be demolished, paving the way for construction of three six-story condominium buildings, two single-story commercial structures and a riverwalk.
Meadow Plaza has been owned by a private trust for decades, according to the Meadow Plaza information page on the Village of Northbrook’s website.
Owners of the property have attempted to sell the shopping center numerous times over the last five to 10 years, to no avail, officials said Tuesday. The property was under contract just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the sale was never completed and the property was put back on the market in 2024.
Though Pulte Homes has led various development projects in the village since the 1960s, according to representatives for the company, its ties extend well beyond Northbrook and Illinois.
Pulte Homes is a division of PulteGroup, founded by William J. Pulte in 1950 and today active in more than 45 markets, according to the PulteGroup website. Pulte’s grandson William “Bill” Pulte served as the Trump administration’s acting director of national intelligence from June to August 2026.
The commercial spaces Pulte is proposing will total to approximately 5,500 square feet each, reducing the site’s existing 90,000 square feet of retail space to a fraction of its current size, per the design plan.
Of the proposed 150 residential units — 50 per condominium building— 23 are slated to be affordable, in accordance with Northbrook’s Affordable Housing Plan, developers said.
Rob Getz, vice president of land acquisition at PulteGroup, told commissioners at the public hearing Tuesday the condos will be a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, with affordable units ranging from about $190,000 for a one-bedroom to $250,000 for a two-bedroom.
“I’m not going to shy away from the fact that dollars do matter in a project like this, and this is related to the affordability requirement and how that is driving some of the height of this building,” Getz said.
“People ask, why the sixth floor? A good part of the reason of ‘why the sixth floor’ is to make the finances work, to afford the $4.9 million in losses that we’re taking on those affordable units.”
Because the plaza sits in a C-2 Village Green Overlay District, the base height of any building constructed must be less than four stories, or five with a special permit.
Pulte’s six-story proposal will require the Village Board to approve its rezoning and subdivision relief application, which must first gain an endorsement from the Plan Commission.
“Six-story towers (are) a skyscraper in downtown Northbrook,” said resident Susan Nelson, who initially rallied the troops for the Save Downtown Northbrook effort, a grassroots coalition of residents and businesses opposing Pulte’s proposal.
A Change.org petition spurred to halt a potential re-development of the plaza has garnered almost 6,000 signatures since it was created in June.
“[The 6,000 people] saying they don’t want this kind of plan, that represents 25% of our voting population, ” Nelson told Pioneer Press at the meeting.
“We want something. We want elegant development. It’s not like here’s one extreme, do nothing or do it all. No, there’s something in the middle, right? So we’re going for the middle, but with transparency, which we are not getting.”
Many residents that spoke out at Tuesday’s public hearing agreed that the plaza needs a revitalization of sorts, but not at the expense of pushing the 14 existing businesses out.
“The one thing that I always liked about Northbrook was the downtown area is very charming, had a great scale, and the Meadow Plaza provided some continuity between the downtown area and Sunset [Foods],” resident Tony Garippo said during the public comment period.
“[But] it’s obsolete. Something needs to change, but what needs to change may not be what’s been proposed,” Garippo told commissioners.
“I don’t think 10,000 square feet [of retail space] is adequate for what can be built in this development. I know it’s a very complicated project and a lot of things that Pulte proposed are to be admired…[but] we’re not Arlington Heights. We’re not Mount Prospect. For this, our center, the fabric of our center, it’s just way too massive.”
To a cacophony of boos from local residents, retail analyst John Melaniphy, speaking on behalf of Pulte, said during the company’s application presentation that Meadow Plaza “does not reflect favorably upon the residents of Northbrook.”
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“Meadow Shopping Plaza is underperforming in retail sales, productivity, tenant mix and overall occupancy…Less supply of retail space will enhance demand for the remaining retail space, and the redevelopment will provide new modern prototype space that will improve the aesthetic of this corridor.”
Northbrook Plan Commissioner Jeremy Melnick pushed back, “How does reducing the retail from 90,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet actually help the lifestyle of what we’re doing in the community?”
Plan Commission Chair Steven Elisco further questioned the commercial space reduction plan.
“How do you maintain flexibility to accommodate new and retail things that are coming on the market, especially if you have something there now that’s going to be there long-term?” Elisco voiced.
“Would we want something else downtown? Where are we going to put it, if you don’t provide additional commercial space?”
“One project will never be all things to all people, right?” Pulte Vice President Getz responded.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you that we’re going to be everything to everyone, but we do believe that there are many benefits to approving the project proposal.”
“But I’m talking about the future…what flexibility is built in to accommodate new things that come up along the way?” Elisco continued.
After Getz confirmed it’s a question he can’t answer, Elisco added that it’s a question that will be “prominent in whether this project will get approved or not.”
Talks on the proposal will continue at the commission’s next meeting, planned for Oct. 20, where residents will have the opportunity to further voice their concerns about the project and ask questions of developers.
One of the people who would be directly affected by the razing of Meadow Plaza, Alli Gilley, has worked at the independent book store Book Bin since she was 16 years old.
Now, as a co-owner of the 55-year-old store, which relocated to Meadow Plaza in 2025, she wants to see it continue rather than be torn down.
“To dismiss the history of this shopping center and all of its wonderful current retailers would be short-sighted,” Gilley told Pioneer Press.
“It’s such a great community hub…I don’t think condos are really needed and that’s why it’s… a sad state.”