A developer has outlined plans for University Place, a residential, commercial and entertainment complex proposed for one of the last big tracts of undeveloped land in Hoffman Estates.
The Plan Commission heard a request by Shoe Factory Road L.L.C. for zoning changes and modifications to allow the project.
The project is proposed for land on the north and south sides of Shoe Factory Road east and west of Beverly Road in Hoffman Estates and what is now unincorporated Cook County. The developer is seeking annexation of the unincorporated area.
“This will be a new downtown for Hoffman Estates,” said Bernard Citron, an attorney with the Chicago firm of Schain, Firsel & Burney, who spoke on behalf of Shoe Factory Road L.L.C., a subsidiary of Terrestris Development Corp. in Oak Brook.
The proposal calls for 185 acres of townhouses, 47 acres of single-family homes and 90 acres of office, research, school and park use. Another 20 acres would be donated to Northern Illinois University for a new satellite campus and conference center.
The NIU facility would be an expansion of its existing Hoffman Estates campus in the Prairie Stone business park.
Citron said there also would be a 350-suite Radisson hotel, restaurant and outdoor music theater adjacent to the NIU site, plus a retirement community to be developed by U.S. Home Corp.
Plan Commission Chairman Carl Adrianopoli said commissioners are concerned about the potential traffic impact and the fate of trees and an old schoolhouse on the property.
