As Lake Zurich officials look to shore up the town’s Main Street area, the Village Board was presented with two proposals for redevelopment there that would bring retail space and a cannabis dispensary – all of which trustees seemed open to.
One proposal presented at the Feb. 5 meeting called for redeveloping the retail spaces at Old Rand Road and Main Street. The second was for a cannabis store in a vacant storefront at the Oakwood Commons Shopping Center, 680 Route 22.
Both presentations were informational only and the board did not take any action. Developers for the respective projects sought to gauge board support for the potential plans, and trustees and the mayor seemed amenable to both ideas.
“Making our Main Street District more of a destination has been a top goal of our community for many years,” Kyle Kordell, the village’s management services director, told Pioneer Press in an email after the Village Board meeting. “We’ve taken a lot of big strides in this direction over the last few years and we think this proposal is another step in the right direction.”
The Old Rand Road project was presented by a representative from True North Properties, a Chicagoland real estate development group. The rep explained that the developer would update and improve the façade of the existing retail businesses in the area and possibly add a drive through feature.
Currently, there is an ice cream parlor and a shoe repair store at the site. Nick Leremuic, son of the owner of True North, said there are no plans to evict the current business tenants should the redevelopment proposal get board approval.
The plan would update the outside of the small shopping center without touching some elements — namely the parking, the developer explained. Leremuic proposed raising ceilings, though most of the work would be exterior updates, including a stone façade and large windows in the spaces.
Mayor Tom Poynton said the proposed investment would not be a small one, and he wondered how True North would make a profit on a rehab project.
Leremuic agreed and he said the only way it makes sense is if the company holds on to the property and current tenants for at least the time being.
“So, this money that gets invested now helps beautify and update the place,” he said. “We’re looking to keep the tenants we have.”
He said his company anticipates owning the property for years, and if the current businesses were to leave, the space would be easy to rent or lease to new ones.
“Over the years the numbers would even out as we hold and manage the property and keep it up that way,” Leremuic said.
At present True North is not requesting any zoning changes to the property.
Kordell said based on the broad consensus of the goals of both True North and village leadership, he expects the board to officially review the project in March.
The other project the Village Board heard plans for was a cannabis dispensary. It was met with a similarly positive reaction from the board, though the future of it appears less clear.
Ashley Thullen, CEO of Brightside, and Tim Duffy, CEO of Tofino Shoreline Partners, were both at the meeting to present the idea, though Tofino will have little to do with the project.
Tofino Shoreline holds a cannabis dispensary license that Brightside wants. But under state law, Tofino can’t sell the license without having an operational brick and mortar location attached to the license. So, Brightside would manage the property and its development until Tofino could sell it and the license to Brightside, the business leaders explained.
Still, none of the board members had any serious objection to developing an empty retail space. Officials said plans for the cannabis dispensary would have to go before the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission
“It’s far from certain at this point, but the Applicants from Tofino Shoreline Partners and Briteside can now proceed to a future Public Hearing at the Planning and Zoning Commission, which is expected to occur on March 20 at Village Hall,” Kordell stated in the email.
Trustee William Riley said at the board meeting he was concerned kids might get interested in the dispensary as they walked past it or hung out at a nearby 7-Eleven convenience store or pizza restaurant. He also said there are already several dispensaries in the area.
But Thullen argued she supports teaching “responsible cannabis use to kids” and said more dispensaries doesn’t mean more users.
“Having more bars in your town doesn’t mean you have more drinkers, it just means you have more bars to go to,” she said.
Thullen’s company is poised to open two dispensaries, one in south suburban Chicago Heights and another in the southern Illinois town of Carbondale.
Trustee Greg Weider asked Thullen what made Lake Zurich attractive. She said she liked the community.
“It’s evident to me that you have a big heart here,” she said. “And it’s beautiful. Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of it?”
Poynton joked she should do more than install a dispensary.
“You could buy a house here, too,” he said.
Kidding aside, Poynton seemed to like the dispensary idea, given that the present location is vacant.
“Whatever you’re going to do is going to be a vast improvement over what’s there now,” he said.
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
