For seven years, the Grainger property has remained a focal point in Northbrook—an $8M investment that has yet to produce results. Nearly everyone has an opinion on it, but few can confidently explain the full timeline of decisions, challenges, and outcomes that have shaped where we are today.
The property, still almost entirely unchanged from the day the Village purchased it, has cost taxpayers an estimated $300K annually, based on conservative estimates. A portion has recently been cleaved off to accelerate the supportive housing development, while the remainder is expected to go back on the market this spring.
This raises key questions. Was purchasing the property a misstep from the start? Or, as the current Village Board suggests ("this board has a vision for this property" but "money is expensive"), was this a sound plan that was ultimately derailed by macroeconomic conditions? More importantly, are we now on the right track, or are we positioned to face similar challenges again?
Looking at the full picture, have lessons from this process been fully acknowledged, or are we at risk of making the same missteps again?
To summarize, here’s a broad timeline of the salient events:
- May 2018 – The Village purchased the Grainger property for $8M.
- Plan A – Move the Metra station to the Grainger site.
- Plan B – Sell the property for a mixed-use development with luxury condos, retail, and affordable housing.
- September 2021 – The Village listed the property for sale.
- May 2022 – The property sold for $10.5M, four years after purchase, amid rising inflation and interest rates.
- November 2022 – The Plan Commission votes unanimously to deny zoning relief requests from developer.
- January 2023 – The Village Board votes unanimously to approve zoning relief requests from developer.
- January 2025 – The Village terminated the sale due to non-performance. The supportive housing project will move forward separately, while the Village considered the site for a temporary police station during renovations.
- Today – The property remains unchanged, just as Grainger left it.
This post breaks down the trajectory of the Grainger project and raises key questions residents should be asking to hold the Board accountable—favorably or unfavorably.
At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a comprehensive timeline compiled from an array of sources including the 2021 Candidate Forum, State of the Village addresses, local press coverage, board minutes, and Village press releases. Since board minutes are only available back to 2020, I was unable to access records from the time of purchase. Every fact is attributed to its source to maintain transparency. Because of its length, I’ve placed the detailed timeline at the end.
If you spot any discrepancies, please feel free to comment below.
If you question my objectivity, I strongly encourage you to start with the detailed timeline first, then read the analysis. My goal is to foster a fact-based discussion—one that focuses on what happened and when, and evaluates the Board’s execution of this project without the bias of hindsight.
This is the *fifth* post I’ve written about local Northbrook politics, and my previous four posts are available on my timeline for open critique in the comments section.
I’ve been asked why I’m doing this. Simply put: I am 100% pro-Northbrook. I have immense respect for anyone who steps up for civic engagement, and I firmly believe our community benefits when more residents get involved—regardless of whom they support.
This is an area where I’ve personally fallen short in my twenty years here. As I said in my first post: The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is today. So, in this upcoming election, I will vote. But this is just the beginning.
In my opinion, we should be working together in an “us vs. the problem” mindset, and that starts by naming reality—even when it’s uncomfortable. If that means being critical of certain decisions or execution by the current board, so be it—accountability is part of good governance, and diversity of thought is essential to progress.
Let’s dive in to the details.
In 2017, Grainger decided to relocate its Northbrook operations on Shermer Road to its Lake Forest headquarters. In May 2018, the Village of Northbrook purchased the site for $8 million. While the exact reasoning behind the purchase isn’t fully documented, the best I can determine is that the Village saw an opportunity to address two major obstacles to downtown development: �� Low population density, which limits business growth. 📷 Train-related traffic congestion, particularly from Metra stops that block Shermer Road for minutes at a time.
The Grainger purchase presented two possible paths forward: �� Move the train station to the Grainger site, reducing Shermer Road stoppages from minutes to seconds while redeveloping the old station site for high-density mixed-use development. 📷 If relocating the train station proved unfeasible, resell the Grainger property for high-density, mixed-use development, including housing and retail.
While this idea wasn’t universally popular, particularly among residents near Shermer and Woodlawn, where traffic concerns would increase (with effects on Illinois and Farnsworth as well), the fundamental logic made sense. Northbrook has limited space to grow, and this was a rare opportunity to address two of its biggest constraints.
Put differently, it seems incongruent to be pro-downtown development while opposing higher-density housing projects.
I love the boldness of the vision—but vision only matters if the execution delivers.
Let’s take a closer look.
If Plan A was to move the train station, then even without the benefit of hindsight, the Village should have had a high level of confidence in its ability to execute before committing $8 million in taxpayer dollars.
Unfortunately, it didn’t.
Despite preliminary discussions with Metra in 2017, the Village President admitted in May 2018—just two weeks after the Board ratified the purchase—that discussions with Metra were still only in the “preliminary stages.”
Even fundamental questions, such as who would fund the new station, remained unanswered. At the time, the Village President was still hoping to draft a memorandum of understanding with Metra just to explore the feasibility of relocation. Hope is not a strategy, as a former boss used to remind me—yet that appears to be solely what Plan A was built upon.
To be fair, the Village did have a Plan B—to sell the property to a developer who shared the vision for revitalizing downtown. However, the timeline becomes murky, with limited public updates for more than three years after the purchase.
While it’s unclear exactly when the Village Board determined that Plan A was not viable, we do know the official reason they gave for abandoning it: "Both the Village and Metra abandoned that idea when both came to believe a move might increase traffic on Techny Road, to the south, and on Shermer."
This explanation—documented in both a May 2022 Daily Herald article and a January 2025 Village press release—raises more questions than it answers. Given that the Grainger site is significantly closer to the Shermer crossing than the Techny crossing, it strongly suggests that the initial feasibility assessment of Plan A was poorly executed—and that it was never truly viable to begin with.
Despite this, it took over three years to transition to Plan B. While the current Village President has repeatedly stated that "money is now expensive" (referring to rising commercial lending rates), there has been no public acknowledgment of the significant delay in pivoting from Plan A to Plan B—a period of three years when money was as inexpensive as it has ever been.
Adding to the confusion, in March 2021, just ahead of the April 2021 presidential election, our current Village President made this statement: "Purchasing Grainger was an outstanding opportunity for us because it helps us control the downtown. Northbrook has gotten several calls from developers who want to purchase the property. We will make money on the property, absolutely."
If this was the reality in March 2021, it seems highly unlikely that the Village was still actively pursuing Plan A at that time. Yet, despite this, the Board didn’t initiate the sale process until fall 2021. After seeking bids from brokers with "extensive experience marketing properties in the greater Chicagoland area, especially on the North Shore," the Board approved a listing agreement with Cushman and Wakefield on September 28, 2021.
Even granting every possible benefit of the doubt—acknowledging that village governments move slowly, do not operate like for-profit businesses, and that working with Metra adds complexity—it remains highly questionable why it took three years to initiate Plan B, especially when Plan A was, at best, a long shot from the start.
Regardless, the property was listed for sale in September 2021. By January 2022, the Village President stated: "The Grainger property is for sale and without talking too much about it, I expect, I hope to have something finalized by the summer."
And indeed, in May 2022, the Village Board voted 5-0 to sell the 10.3-acre plot to Lennar Multifamily Communities for $10.5 million, without incentives. One trustee was absent, and the president abstained—a typical practice unless votes are close.
What remains unclear is how much the macroeconomic environment influenced the Board’s decision. By April 2022, inflation had hit 8.3%, and the Federal Reserve had already raised rates by 25 basis points in March, with a 50-point hike following on May 4. Meanwhile, commercial real estate financing rates were skyrocketing. These economic realities were widely known, and the outlook was already bleak.
I can only hope the Board took these factors into account. While I can only speculate on the specifics, I would expect that someone—privately, since no discussion was captured in public minutes—urged the Board to prioritize a buyer with strong financial backing, who could weather rising interest rates and was thoroughly incentivized to complete the project.
Did the Board conduct a liquidity review of potential buyers to determine whether they were, for lack of a better phrase, cash buyers? There is no public record to confirm that, and no one has spoken out about it. While I would like to believe they did, I have my doubts. �� The $2.5 million difference between purchase and sale price. 📷 The $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars the Village had already spent to maintain the property. 📷 Repeated claims from the Board attributing project delays to “money [being] expensive”—which seemingly confirms that the buyer required financing and struggled due to rising interest rates.
Still, despite significant macroeconomic uncertainty, the Board moved forward with the sale in May 2022, securing a $2.5M gain over the purchase price and committing the buyer to supportive housing requirement—a policy I thematically support and endorse.
High fives all around.
However, there was still work to do. Lennar (later rebranded as Quarterra) needed to submit zoning relief requests for approval by the Village Board. As is customary, these requests were first reviewed by the Plan Commission. While the Plan Commission has no binding authority, its role—like other commissions—is to provide a recommendation based on expert assessment. Ultimately, the Village Board held the final decision.
On November 15, 2022, the Plan Commission unanimously voted to deny all eight zoning relief requests submitted by Quarterra. The public hearing was closed, and since meeting minutes do not provide insight into their rationale, there is no public record explaining their decision.
The Village Board set the vote on the zoning relief requests for January 24, 2023. That meeting stretched on for over four hours of deliberation. Thirty residents spoke publicly about the project—twenty-two voiced opposition, and one presented a petition with 1,000 signatures against it.
One trustee questioned whether residents who signed the petition had been misinformed about the development plan and noted that some signatures appeared twice. This trustee also referenced social media posts containing "disappointing" comments about affordable housing and individuals with disabilities—though it is unclear what the intent of that was, beyond perhaps reinforcing the claim that the public was misinformed.
Lastly, perhaps foreshadowing the inevitable vote, the public was reminded that the Plan Commission is only a recommending body.
And indeed, despite the Plan Commission’s wholesale opposition and strong public commentary, the Village Board unanimously approved the zoning relief requests—at nearly 1:00 AM.
On this, I am both sympathetic to the Board and also baffled.
The reality is simple: either we believe that downtown development hinges on increasing housing density, or we do not. If we do, then the Village has only so many opportunities to act on it. By this point—nearly six years after the initial purchase and six months after approving the sale—there was no realistic way for the Board to reject these requests without starting over from square one. Through mismanagement from the start, the Board had boxed itself into a corner.
I understand why the Board wanted to move forward.
That said, the Plan Commission exists for a reason—and one has to wonder what sane individual would want to serve on it if the Board summarily rejects its unanimous recommendation—while also publicly marginalizing its importance along the way.
Why the Board did not privately address the Plan Commission’s concerns—finding a way to incorporate solutions, while still moving ahead with the project—will remain a mystery.
In the end, one could conclude that doing so would have required a level of introspection and courage that the Board had not demonstrated since the day the property was purchased.
There was little fanfare about this at the State of the Village 2023 the next day, and no acknowledgment of the project’s history or the significant opposition it had faced. Instead, it was presented as a “no-brainer.”
By the State of the Village 2024, there was finally some recognition that things were not going well, but it was summarily dismissed as an unavoidable consequence of macroeconomic conditions: "Unfortunately, the economy has hit the developer. The price of money is expensive, and the price of construction is expensive. They're invested in the project, they're committed to the project, but they need to wait for interest rates to go down. That's what we've heard from them. But the good news is that, on the first try, the state of Illinois has granted the developer of the Supportive Housing piece full financing. So, that project is ready to go, and we're going to make sure that happens."
It would have been reasonable at the time to ask how much analysis had actually been done to conclude the developer was still committed—given that we were 18 months past the sale date and the Village still did not have an additional $10.5M in its proverbial bank account.
For anyone who has sold a house, if a buyer repeatedly doesn’t show up for closing, it doesn’t take long to conclude they aren’t going to—ever—no matter what they tell you. Presumably, the Village Board would have consulted with the Economic Strategy Commission—which includes more than one successful commercial developer—but no meeting agendas are posted for this body prior to February 2024 to confirm that this was a topic.
Despite this, the public-facing outlook was officially optimistic in 2024.
By January 2025, however, reality set in. The Village officially terminated the purchase and sale agreement with Quarterra Multifamily Company for 8.8 acres of the former Grainger site. In its press release, the Village confirmed that it would also proceed with the sale of the remaining 1.5 acres to Housing Opportunity Development Corporation (HODC) for a supportive housing project and indicated it would break ground in the coming months.
Additionally, the Village announced plans to evaluate the former Grainger site as a temporary police station, while it considers renovation or a full rebuild of the existing facility. Specifics—such as renovation costs or environmental cleanup—were not shared. Given the Board’s history with this property, it is hard to take this as anything more than wishful thinking.
At the State of the Village address the following week, an optimistic tone was struck regarding the Affordable Housing portion of the project:
"The HODC portion is moving forward, we expect them to break ground in August so that property will go forward. That property is funded $22.7 million public-private investment, most of it grant money – not grant money from the Village of Northbrook – grant money from Cook County (Thank you, Commissioner Britton), the State of Illinois (Thank you, Representative Katz-Muhl), and federal grant money. So that's really exciting. It's an affordable property, and it's geared toward families or individuals who have disabilities. HODC is a nationally renowned developer. They work locally on this, they've built beautiful properties in Glenview and all across the North Shore."
It’s hard to take this updated plan seriously for a few reasons.
First, given the history of this project, skepticism is warranted. Until we see bulldozers and shovels in the dirt, this remains a theoretical success story rather than a tangible one.
Next, in 2024, we were told: "The good news is that, on the first try, the state of Illinois has granted the developer of the Supportive Housing piece full financing. So, that project is ready to go, and we're going to make sure that happens." Now, however, we’re hearing that the funding is actually a mix of local, state, and federal dollars—without any acknowledgment or explanation of what changed. This is par for the course for a Board that seems content to give the absolute best case plans for this property rather than naming reality.
Lastly, with the current climate in D.C. and the whole DOGE movement, the idea that federal dollars will continue to flow freely seems increasingly questionable.
Fortunately, it does appear that at least one lesson has been learned.
The Purchase and Sale Agreement now includes a firm deadline: "The Purchase and Sale Agreement requires that HODC secure financing and commence construction of a Supportive Housing Development, as defined in the Purchase and Sale Agreement, on the Lot 1 Parcel on or before August 30, 2025, and that the failure to do so would enable the Village to require that ownership of the Lot 1 Parcel revert to the Village."
If nothing else, the Board is finally putting some teeth into its agreements—something that should have been standard practice from the start.
As for the remaining portion of the former Grainger site (or “the rest of it”), the refrain sounded familiar: "The prior developer couldn't get the financing to move forward on the big luxury units. This Village Board has a vision for that property. Our downtown retailers want more density; more density means more dollars, means more vibrancy, means a wonderful downtown. That's what we see for this site. So, we'll see what happens again. What we've heard is they all want to do it. Money is expensive, so we're waiting hopefully for the interest rates to come down."
At the Village Board meeting on February 11, the supportive housing proposal was unanimously approved. The Board’s comments and vote can be viewed starting at the 1-hour, 37-minute mark of the video posted with that meeting’s agenda and minutes on the Village site. The approval was met with congratulatory remarks, as—nearly seven years after the Village purchased the Grainger property—a key component of the project was finally (and hopefully) moving forward.
So, what’s next?
Presumably, the Village Board will now begin the process of selling the remainder of the property. This will almost certainly involve requests for zoning relief, which will reignite concerns from the Northbrook residents most affected by the development.
While some of these concerns will be strictly NIMBY-driven, there is still a reasonable expectation that the Village must address: How does it plan to mitigate the traffic congestion on Shermer that will inevitably come with high-density development? Simply dismissing these concerns outright isn’t a solution.
The reality is that the path forward is limited—at this point, there doesn’t appear to be any viable alternative other than selling the property to a developer who will build something at least resembling what Quarterra had originally proposed.
The only real question is whether the Village will handle it any differently this time around.
The way the issue is being framed in the current election suggests that while the vision for the property will remain largely unchanged, new voices on the Board could help shape a more effective execution. Neither campaign—Northbrook Caucus or Northbrook Focused—has taken a particularly bold stance on Grainger in their official platforms. While the Northbrook Focused platform directly references Grainger, the Caucus platform does not explicitly address it, instead framing downtown development in broader terms.
NORTHBROOK FOCUSED "Grainger Property – Support the approved housing project on Lot 1, ensure smart infrastructure planning, and conduct a transparent RFP process for Lot 2 with a focus on community engagement."
NORTHBROOK CAUCUS There is no specific mention of the Grainger property in the Caucus platform, though it appears to be embedded in their Reimagined Downtown initiative: "Building a more vibrant downtown is underway. Our goals are to attract the right investments so that residents have a downtown that is full of fun places to eat, great retail, and things to do. With a phase one of new streetscaping, a new Hometown Coffee & Juice, and a bike and pedestrian pathway extension down Shermer Rd. from Willow Rd. into downtown."
In my opinion, Northbrook Focused is missing an opportunity to educate the public and say what the board – and the subset slate of candidates – will not. They should remind us that road to hell to is paved with good intentions and spend less time detailing what they would do with the property—though that is, of course, important—and more time examining how we got here in the first place. After all, the incumbents are running on their experience and commitment to transparency—so it’s entirely fair to highlight where that experience failed Northbrook and where transparency has been lacking.
Here are the key questions residents should be asking to hold the Board accountable:
- What pieces of the above analysis are factually inaccurate or missing important context?
- What level of diligence should taxpayers expect before an $8M purchase? At the time of purchase, Plan A (moving the train station) was in its earliest planning stages. How much thought actually went into Plan B? Was there a clear pivot strategy, or was Plan B simply an afterthought?
- Why did it take over three years to pivot to Plan B? We know that Plan A was abandoned in September 2021—more than three years after the initial purchase. That is a staggeringly long delay, especially considering what ultimately made Plan A unworkable.
- How much debate did the Board have in balancing sales price vs. developer viability & commitment when agreeing to sell the property to Quarterra in May 2022? Did they assess whether the developer had the financial stability and incentive to proceed in an environment of rising interest rates?
- Who did the board rely on for expert counsel given the lack of commercial development experience on the board itself? What was this group – formal or informal – advising throughout the period between Quarterra’s purchase in 2022 and the termination of the agreement in 2025? Why did it take two-and-a-half years to conclude Quarterra was not serious about the project?
- Now that the affordable housing portion is progressing independently, should this always have been the plan, rather than bundling it with a broader mixed-use development?
- What happened to the full funding for the HODC from the state as conveyed in 2024? Why should we trust that the funding outlined in 2025 is more credible than what was conveyed in 2024? How secure are the current funds from federal sources given the reduced spending that the Federal Government is undertaking in 2025? What will we do if the HODC has not started construction by their August 2025 deadline?
- What is the estimated cost to convert the current Grainger site to a temporary police station? Does that include the $300K clean-up fee?
- What lessons has the Board actually applied to improve Northbrook governance in the seven years since this project began? Transparency, planning, and execution have all been called into question throughout this process. What concrete steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of these missteps?
Northbrook residents deserve real answers—not just campaign slogans about experience and transparency paired with a strategy that seems to continue to rely largely on hope.
This matters because, after seven years of stagnation with this property—shaped largely by the decisions and execution of the Village Board—how can we be sure we aren’t simply repeating past mistakes and expecting different results? It’s easy to dismiss concerns and blame macroeconomic factors or claim that “money is expensive,” but the reality is far more complex.
We are electing the next board to navigate similar challenges in the future, and it is critical that we learn from past missteps rather than repeat them. Yet today, there isn’t even an acknowledgment that mistakes were made.
After all, as the saying goes, “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.”
*****HERE IS THE TIMELINE*****
Please note that I tried to attribute each piece to its source but generally you can think of this as coming from Candidate Forum 2021, State of the Village addresses, local press coverage, board minutes, and village press releases. Note that board minutes are only available back to 2020 so the exact minutes from the time of purchase are not available to me.
August 2017 - May 2018 - Timeline leading up to the purchase, as described by the current president (then candidate) in March 2021 LWV-GG Candidate Forum: �� August 2017 – CBRE Group, a commercial real estate services and investment firm, contacted Northbrook and said that Granger was planning to move it’s Northbrook operations to its Lake Forest headquarters. Per President Ciesla – This was not only broadcasted publicly, it was also via news outlets. 📷 August 30, 2017 - Metra and staff had a conference call about the possibility of the relocation of the train station. 📷 September 26, 2017 – Metra, Sandy Frum, Village Manager Rich Nahrstadt, and village staff had a meeting with Metra to discuss moving the Train Station.
January 23, 2018 - The village entered into a contract to purchase the property for $8.3M.
May 8, 2018 – The village had a meeting where the purchase price was reduced to $8M because of the environmental issues on the property. That $300K was the cleanup remediation cost.
May 9, 2018 – from a Daily Tribune article in May 2022 The Village purchased 1657 Shermer Road from W. W. Grainger, Inc., on May 9, 2018 for $8 million pursuant to Ordinance No. 2018-5.
May 24, 2018 – Chicago Tribune published an article headlined “Northbrook exploring possibility of moving Metra station to Grainger property”. (https://www.chicagotribune.com/.../northbrook-exploring.../) Salient points from the article: �� The village has “sufficient cash reserves to pay a fair market value for the property in the event that it proceeded with condemnation,” 📷 At the May 22 Board of Trustees meeting, Frum said she has received many questions about the property. Village officials and Metra representatives have been having preliminary discussions for the last several months about moving the Metra station to the Grainger property, she said. 📷 When asked about which entity would pay for the new station and what would happen to the current Metra train station property, village spokeswoman Cheryl Fayne said “it’s too early in the process to answer those questions.” 📷 Moving the station would increase the village’s commuter space by approximately 20 percent and reduce the amount of time that Shermer Road is currently blocked when trains stop at the station, Frum said. 📷 “We are drafting a memorandum of understanding to work together to explore the feasibility of relocating the station,” Frum said.
March 2021 – LWV-GG Candidate Forum “Purchasing Grainger was an outstanding opportunity for us because it helps us control the downtown. Northbrook has gotten several calls from developers who want to purchase the property. We will make money on the property, absolutely.”
Sometime between May 2018 and September 2021 – from a May 2022 Daily Herald article entitled “Northbrook to enter purchase and sale agreement for Grainger property”. https://www.dailyherald.com/.../northbrook-to-enter.../ The village purchased the property in 2018 with the thought of relocating the Metra train station to that site from 1401 Shermer Road to lessen stalled traffic caused by trains. Subsequently, the village outlined in its brief on Tuesday, both the village and Metra abandoned that idea when both came to believe a move might increase traffic on Techny Road, to the south, and on Shermer.
September 2021 – from a January 2025 Village Press Release “The Village Board started the process of placing the 1657 Shermer property (also called the Grainger site) for sale in the fall of 2021. The Village Board sought bids from brokers with extensive experience marketing properties in the greater Chicagoland area, especially on the North Shore. At the September 28, 2021, Village Board meeting, the Village Board approved a listing agreement with real estate brokers Cushman and Wakefield for the property.”
January 2022 – State of the Village address “The Grainger property is for sale and without talking too much about it, I expect, I hope to have something finalized by the summer.”
May 11, 2022 – The Daily Herald publishes an article “Northbrook to enter purchase and sale agreement for Grainger property”. https://www.dailyherald.com/.../northbrook-to-enter.../ Salient points from article: �� Tuesday's 5-0 vote by trustees would sell the 10.3-acre plot to Lennar Multifamily Communities for $10.5 million, without incentives. 📷 "A real thank-you to Lennar and those other entities that placed bids and worked with us," said Northbrook President Kathryn Ciesla. "We really appreciate all the interest in the community, and I anticipate this is going to be a great development, a mix of residential and retail. It'll expand our downtown, and I think it will be an attractive gateway to the downtown." 📷 The purchaser's plan is to construct an "approximate" five-story, mixed-use development on 8.8 acres. It would build 335 luxury apartments, including 5 affordable units, a 500-stall parking structure and a retail parcel of about 6,500 square feet with off-street parking for 60 cars. Lennar would like a restaurant in that retail spot, along Shermer Road, Elrod said. 📷 To comply with Northbrook's affordable housing requirements Lennar will donate about 1.5 acres of the property to nonprofit developer Housing Opportunities Development Corporation for 45 "supportive" housing units, affordable housing for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities. 📷 Maintaining the structure has cost the village nearly $1.5 million.
November 15, 2022 – Meeting Minutes from Plan Commission meeting https://northbrook-il.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php... At this meeting, the Plan Commission voted unanimously to deny an application filed by Quarterra Multifamily Communities, LLC as contractual purchaser of 1657 Shermer Rd which is owned by the Village of Northbrook along with Housing Opportunity Development Corporation for the purpose of authorizing eight zoning relief requests to allow construction of planned development.
January 24, 2023 – Meeting Minutes from the Village Board meeting https://northbrook-il.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php... Meeting summary captured directly below in Daily Herald article.
January 24, 2023 – Daily Herald publishes an article titled “Northbrook board OKs luxury apartments, retail space for Grainger site” https://www.dailyherald.com/.../northbrook-board-oks.../ �� “After nearly four and a half hours of discussion Tuesday evening, the board voted unanimously to approve three omnibus ordinances that will transform the former site of Grainger Industrial Supply, 1657 Shermer Road”. 📷 “The approval allows Quarterra Multifamily Communities - called Lennar Multifamily Communities when the village executed a $10.5 million purchase and sale agreement with the company last May - to develop a 5-story, 318-unit luxury apartment building and a 6,500-square-foot restaurant or other retail space on 8.89 acres”. 📷 “Quarterra will donate 1.49 acres to the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation for a 48-unit affordable and supportive housing development”. 📷 “The meeting drew 30 public speakers, 22 of them opposing the development, though they'd thinned out by the time Village President Kathryn Ciesla adjourned the meeting at 12:53 a.m. Those opposed cited numerous reasons - the density of the development, the 64-foot height of the main apartment building, impact on traffic and schools, and a single access drive on the west at Woodlawn Road. They thought those living in the affordable and supportive housing units would feel segregated from other nearby residents. Many favored development at Grainger, but not this proposal.” 📷 “Trustees said officials in affected school districts approved of the project, which would generate far more in property tax benefit than when Grainger operated its call center and warehouse.” 📷 “Ciesla, who typically is required to vote only to break a tie, felt the project important enough to cast the seventh vote.”
January 2023 – Northbrook State of the Village address “The Village Housing Opportunity Development Corporation; the village board approved last night [a] 43 unit building in Downtown Northbrook for people who have disabilities. People who can live independently people who need services. Again these are the children and the siblings of your neighbors and your kids’ friends. Quarterra is going to be building luxury apartments in downtown (318). I met with the downtown businesses – thank you Kathy for helping with that – [and] the downtown businesses are incredibly excited. One landowner said to me [that] it's a no-brainer to have that density of people in the downtown supporting our businesses. Again remember all those slides back that told us a thousand people we want downtown vibrancy.”
January 2024 – Northbrook State of the Village address “Let's talk about the former Grainger site. I had hoped we would be digging right now. I had hoped we'd have no Grainger building and we'd be building these buildings. Unfortunately, the economy has hit the developer. The price of money is expensive and the price of construction is expensive. They're invested in the project, they're committed to the project but they need to wait for interest rates to go down. That's what we've heard from them but the good news is that on the first try the state of Illinois has granted the developer of the Supportive Housing piece full financing. So, that project is ready to go and we're going to make sure that happens.”
January 21, 2025 – Village posts a press release entitled Village Terminates the 1657 Shermer Purchase Agreement with Quarterra, Proceeds with HODC Supportive Housing Sale” https://www.northbrook.il.us/DocumentCenter/View/8449/Village-Terminates-the-1657-Shermer-Purchase-Agreement-Proceeds-with-HODC-Supportive-Housing-Sale?bidId=
�� “The Village of Northbrook is moving forward with termination of a purchase and sale agreement for 1657 Shermer with Quarterra Multifamily Company for approximately 8.8 acres of the former Grainger site which was acquired by the Village in 2018, while proceeding with the sale of the balance of the property, approximately 1.5 acres to Housing Opportunity Development Corporation (HODC) for a supportive housing project scheduled to break ground in the coming months. The Village will now begin to evaluate the potential use of the former Grainger site at 1657 Shermer as a temporary municipal facility, contributing to broader discussions about public safety facilities.” 📷 “Following the purchase, the Village evaluated whether the property would be suitable for relocation of the Metra train station in order to reduce the number of traffic closures caused by Metra trains on Shermer and provided public parking on the property. Ultimately, it was determined, by Metra, that a relocation would result in additional closures at Techny for trains and as such, relocation of the Metra train station was not pursued further.” 📷 “Through the partnership with HODC, a total of $22.7 million dollars in public private investment has been committed to HODC for the construction of 48 permanent supportive housing units in Northbrook including $14.8 million of private investment (federal tax credits), $6.7 million in direct federal and state funding, and nearly $1.3 million in grants.” 📷 The village also announced intent to use the Grainger property as a temporary police station, pending further evaluation.
January 2025 – State of the Village address “Let's talk about 1657 Shermer Road, aka Grainger. Here's what's happening there. The HODC portion is moving forward, we expect them to break ground in August so that property will go forward. That property is funded $22.7 million public private investment most of it grant money – not grant money from the village of Northbrook – grant money from Cook County (Thank you Commissioner Britton, State of Illinois, Thank you Representative Katz-Muhl) and federal grant money. So that's really exciting. It's an affordable property and it's geared toward families or individuals who have disabilities. HODC is a nationally renowned developer. They work locally on this, they've built beautiful properties in Glenview and all across the NorthShore. This is what it will look like. With respect to the rest of it, the Village Board is going to have some public discussions on what to do with it next. The prior developer couldn't get the financing to move forward on the big luxury units. This village board has a vision for that property. Our downtown retailers want more density; more density means more dollars, means more vibrancy, means a wonderful downtown. That's what we see for this site. So we'll see what happens again. What we've heard is they all want to do it. Money is expensive so we're waiting hopefully for the interest rates to come down.”
February 11, 2025 – Village Board Meeting https://northbrook-il.granicus.com/player/clip/763... (1 hr, 37 minute mark) https://northbrook-il.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php... Village Board votes unanimously to approve zoning relief requests from January 2023 for the HODC portion of the project.