Published by: Journal & Topics

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson announced Mount Prospect-based Wingspan Development Group as the developer that would purchase and redevelop the Elk Grove Woods Plaza at Tuesday’s village board meeting. “Wingspan’s proposal best captured our ‘gateway’ vision while also suggesting several innovative features that are worth exploring further to make this a project the entire community can be proud of,” Johnson said in a written statement.

Wingspan Development Group is a sister company of Nicholas & Associates that recently built the new Dist. 59 school administration building in Elk Grove Village.

Besides the Dist. 59 building, Johnson said the company also built the new Elk Grove Public Works facility on Devon Avenue and renovated the village’s other public works garage on Lively Boulevard.

Although there is not yet any written agreement between the village and Wingspan, Johnson said the company has pledged to purchase the property at Arlington Heights and Higgins roads from the village. The village paid $17.5 million to purchase the shopping center, Elk Grove Bowl, and a gas station, which have already been torn down. 

Four development proposals to create a mixed-use development with a residential apartment building, townhomes, and retail at Elk Grove Woods were shown during a public open house at the Elk Grove Park District Pavilion in November. Those four proposals were also posted on the village’s website. 

At that open house, the names of the developers were not disclosed. Renderings and details of the four plans were shown, with each developer’s proposal given letters A through D. Wingspan’s proposal was marked as Proposal D. Johnson said 85% of written feedback collected at the open house and online preferred Proposal D from Wingspan.  

“Residents can expect to see changes to the proposed development. Final details will be ironed out with village officials in the coming months as the village board works to incorporate design goals,” a village statement said. 

Johnson said there would be one more open house in late February or March, where residents would have one more chance to provide input on Wingspan’s proposal. The project would then begin the normal village approval process, with plans first coming before the plan commission, where there would be more opportunities for the public to weigh in on the plan.

The proposal would see five buildings constructed on the site, a 276-unit high-end apartment building with first-floor retail and an indoor multi-floor parking structure, two, two-story rowhome buildings, each with eight units, two retail buildings, one 25,855 sq. ft., and one 21,930 sq. ft., and include an outdoor covered dining area, dog park, and bridge over Arlington Heights Road into Busse Woods.  

At Tuesday’s meeting, Johnson stressed that the project would see the demolition and the construction of new retail space along Higgins Road start first. He said retailers currently operating in the shopping center would continue to operate as they have been while new retail is built. 

The company’s timeline calendar, included in Proposal D, anticipates the village approval process would begin this month, running through August, with permit approvals anticipated in December. 

It anticipates a groundbreaking in March 2024, but Johnson said he would like to see demolition and construction start before the end of the year, which could push up the timeline for the entire project. 

Wingspan’s timeline anticipates completing retail spaces by December 2024 and moving retail tenants into those new spaces by February 2025. 

Once retail construction is complete, retailers would only need to close briefly to move from existing spaces into new spaces. Once retailers are moved to Higgins, demolition of the old retail spaces would begin in March 2025 followed by construction of the apartment building and rowhome buildings, with final certificates of occupancy issued by November 2026.