The mayor of a northern Chicago suburb is vowing to block a developer’s plan to convert Baxter International’s more than 100-acre office campus into a logistics campus, creating another setback for what is one of the largest office-to-industrial proposals in the country.
Mayor Daniel Shapiro of Deerfield, Illinois, on Wednesday spoke out against Bridge Industrial’s plan in a message on the village website.
“It is clear to me that Bridge’s applications raised many unresolved issues,” Shapiro’s message said. “Therefore, to the extent that Bridge seeks to rezone the general office zoning district for its proposed project, I will encourage our village board to adopt a resolution in opposition to the rezoning request for Bridge’s proposal.”
It’s the latest challenge in Chicago-based Bridge’s plan to buy and redevelop the site long owned by the Fortune 500 medical products company.
Bridge’s plan to have the site in unincorporated Lake County annexed into Deerfield and rezoned for a logistics campus earlier this year encountered loud opposition from residents in the neighboring Thorngate residential community in Riverwoods, Illinois, who have cited concerns about truck traffic and other potential problems.
“Mayor Shapiro’s letter in opposition to the Bridge plans is an important step in saying no to warehouses overwhelming our densely populated communities,” Thorngate Community HOA President Barbara Raff said in an emailed statement to CoStar News. “It is imperative that Riverwoods and Deerfield work together along with surrounding communities to create smart solutions for the Baxter property as well as for future land use opportunities.
“We have learned from round one of our opposition to the developer’s plans that we have a voice and we can make a difference. Our elected officials must take note. And I emphasize elected.”
Last month, Riverwoods’ mayor and village president, Kristine Ford, wrote a letter to Lake County’s board saying that the suburb “opposes approval of the large, speculative, high-volume warehouses as currently proposed” for the site.
A crowd wanting to voice opposition in April grew so large that Deerfield’s plan commission postponed a meeting scheduled to discuss the project, later holding it at a high school gym.
Resistance faced by Bridge, a high-profile example of tensions rising nationally against industrial projects close to homes, led the developer to withdraw its application to Deerfield to have the site annexed and rezoned.
But in July, Bridge met with the Lake County Planning, Building and Development Department to potentially revive its vision for the site through a different jurisdiction.
The far north suburban county last week released a report from the initial meeting, with the proposed scope of the project decreased to buildings of 645,700 and 180,000 square feet.
That is down from almost 1.3 million square feet of industrial and recreational space in the original plan for the site.
Based on the initial report and conversations with county officials, Bridge will decide whether to file a formal proposal in Lake County.
Bridge would need a majority of votes from the county board, a threshold that would increase to a three-quarters vote if the county receives a formal, written protest signed by at least one owner of adjacent property, according to the county report. The higher threshold also would be required “in cases of a valid legal objection by a zoned municipality within 1½ miles of the property,” according to the report.
Deerfield and Riverwoods are eligible zoned municipalities, Lake County’s planning director, Eric Waggoner, said in an email.
Before the plan moved to a full county board vote, there would have to be preliminary steps including a public review and approval by the zoning board of appeals and additional review by the planning agency, Waggoner said.
A Bridge executive did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CoStar News.
Call for Public Outreach
The Lake County report recommends that Bridge undertake “a comprehensive public outreach strategy, such as open house sessions for interested stakeholders,” which would be part of the zoning approval process.
Shapiro’s statement Wednesday creates what appears to be another big hurdle. Although the mayor and the village board are not directly weighing in on Bridge’s proposal now that it is in Lake County’s hands, county officials are likely to weigh their statements — as well as input from other residents — as they consider the plan.
“Whether Bridge decides to move forward with a possible rezoning is unknown at this time but if it does, public hearings would be required at which point the public would have an opportunity to voice its concerns,” Shapiro wrote.
“The village of Deerfield’s planning jurisdiction includes the 102 acres that Bridge sought to annex and develop this past spring,” he added. “Accordingly, the village will have an opportunity to articulate its position on Bridge’s possible rezoning request with the county, if it is made.”
Shapiro previously expressed reservations after more than 500 people attended the plan commission meeting.
Bridge’s battle for approval is playing out as office-to-industrial plans spring up throughout the country, because of a combination of low demand for office space and an ongoing need for distribution space to fill online shopping orders.
Dermody Properties is converting a 232-acre former Allstate corporate campus into more than 3.2 million square feet of logistics space in nearby Glenview, Illinois.
In a new proposal, Dermody seeks approval to demolish two more office buildings in Glenview, which it wants to replace with a nearly 300,000-square-foot warehouse.