Braiman Calls Downtown Buffalo Grove 'an Incredible Opportunity'

Members of Buffalo Grove’s business community had a chance to learn more about a proposal to construct a downtown complex when developer Chuck Malk and Village President Jeff Braiman spoke at Monday’s Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce meeting.

“The first thing people usually ask me is, ‘Why don’t we have a downtown?’ and the next is, ‘What’s with Town Center,’” Braiman said. 

Braiman praised Malk's idea to build a downtown complex on village-owned property along Lake-Cook Road, which is traversed by 105,000 vehicles each day.

“It’s a dynamic plan. It’s an incredible opportunity, I believe, for the Village of Buffalo Grove,” Braiman said. “It could be a destination that will help all of our businesses.”

Braiman said he and Village Manager Dane Bragg have spoken with officials in other communities that have worked with Malk. “We wanted to make sure we had a developer we could trust,” Braiman said.

The feedback was positive, he said. “They all said, ‘He may be difficult to negotiate with, but he’s fair, he’s honest, he’s truthful, he delivers what he says,’” Braiman said.

And what Malk says is that his concept would be successful in Buffalo Grove. 

“Believe it or not, people actually want community,” Malk said of his proposal, which incorporates homes, retail and open space. He said he envisions the downtown as a place where residents of Buffalo Grove and other suburban towns can shop, complete errands, play sports, take in a show or simply meet for a cup of coffee.

“How about your Buffalo Grove Days right in the middle of your downtown?” he suggested. “The concept is putting everything together … so you have a place where you have the community together.”

If the proposal clears a number of hurdles with the village, which include issues pertaining to zoning, engineering and traffic, “I think we are two years to 30 months away from breaking ground on this project,” Malk said. 

The downtown would be strategically designed, with buildings designed for maximum visibility and specific tenants recruited for specific retail spaces.

“We’re not the kind of guys that throw up properties and get the first guys that will pay the rent,” Malk said.

In response to an audience member who wondered how the village could be certain that the proposed downtown wouldn’t be a repeat of Buffalo Grove’s often-criticized Town Center shopping center, Malk described that property as “unfriendly” to consumers.

“The Town Center timing couldn’t have been worse,” he added. “We were in a big box era” and village officials at the time said, ‘We want small boxes.’ Did it work? No.”

Malk, who developed Deerfield’s downtown, said the downtown Buffalo Grove project would generate significant tax revenue for the village.

“You do have money to spend, and you’re not spending it in Buffalo Grove,” he said. “Why not spend your money here in your town, where you get the benefit from it?”

The downtown project would require the creation of a tax-increment financing (TIF) district, said Malk, who added he would invest about $350 million in the development.

Malk’s firm, CRM Properties, owns 80 percent of the developments it has created, he said. Under his proposal, it would own Buffalo Grove’s development, for which it would remain responsible for leasing.

“My company has never had an unsuccessful project,” he said.

Malk also fielded questions from Chamber of Commerce members, who wondered whether retailers have expressed interest in coming to Buffalo Grove and what Malk had to say about the opponents of his plan. 

He said that while he can’t start lining up tenants until his project gets clearance from the village, he has strong connections with a number of retailers who he believes would be attracted to Buffalo Grove. The development would be built on the village's municipal campus and adjacent golf course.

As for the critics, “Whenever there’s change, there’s going to be someone who loses,” Malk said, acknowledging that the village would lose one of its golf courses. But, he added, “Most of the naysayers are usually people who don’t know what is going on.” Malk said he believes that residents who live near the property will come to enjoy their proximity to the village’s downtown.

Braiman added that golf revenue is on the decline, causing the village to kick in about $150,000 each year. If the Buffalo Grove Golf Club remains open, it will require about $2 million in capital improvements over the next decade, he said.

“This is taxpayer money and I don’t know how much longer we can sustain that,” Braiman said.

Related: Previous news about the downtown proposal