The West Dundee Village Board, already spending more than $10 million to buy properties that make up Spring Hill Mall, is moving forward with plans to purchase two downtown buildings for $470,000.
Trustees last week voted to acquire the adjacent properties in the first block of Main Street that currently house Riverside Upholstery and Bob’s Trading Post, both of which have been owned by Robert Aniballi since the late 1970s, Village President Chris Nelson said.
“Nothing seems to have been done to improve the buildings since the Carter administration,” Nelson said. “And a fire quite a few years ago left the second floors of both buildings uninhabitable.”
Bob’s Trading Post, a business owned by Aniballi, is only open sporadically, he said, and has been mostly closed for the last six or seven years.
Trustee Dan Wilbrandt cast the lone no vote on purchasing the downtown buildings. He said that while he doesn’t object to redeveloping the property, he is concerned the village does not having a clear plan for what it would like to see happen with the buildings. He’s also wary about the village picking and choosing what buildings to buy.
“My pause is that we’re moving forward without certainty,” Wilbrandt said.
He also noted the village already has its plate full with buying and redeveloping Spring Hill Mall, a project that likely will take years.
In 2023, the village purchased the mall anchor store formerly occupied by Sears from Hoffman Estates-based Transformco for $1.958 million and the former Macy’s mall anchor store from Macy’s Inc. for $1.21 million. It closes on a deal with Kohan Retail Investment Group this month to puchase the interior mall space for about $7 million.
The mall closing date is Friday, March 22. Only Kohl’s, which remains independently owned, and the Cinemark movie theater will remain open.
For the mall purchase, West Dundee will use TIF district money as the primary funding source, Nelson said. Money in that account has been bolstered by a new apartment complex and a Coca-Cola distribution facility off Route 30, both on the south end of the village, he said.
Surplus cash will be used to buy the downtown buildings, Nelson said.
Despite his vote, Wilbrandt said he agrees that the two downtown buildings being purchased are out of character with the rest of Main Street/Route 72.
“They need a significant amount of rehabilitation and great changes,” Wilbrandt said.
The reason for buying the downtown buildings now, Nelson said, is because the opportunity to do so came up.
Over the years, village officials have been in contact with Aniballi about what could be done with his properties, he said. More recently, discussions focused on Aniballi using the Bob’s Trading Post site as a storage facility, which is not allowed under village code, and that led to the topic of Aniballi selling the two buildings to the village, Nelson said.
“It’s been the village’s objective to redevelop the downtown, and underutilized properties like these can bring down the values of other properties,” he said. “We’ve been kicking the can down the road, and now we have a chance to act.”
Wilbrandt said he understood that goal. “Having the village involved as owners can jumpstart redevelopment,” he said.
Village ownership can be attractive to developers because they know there will be less risk if they make an investment, especially if the village provides redevelopment incentives, Nelson said.
“We’ll be providing a stable environment for a responsible developer to come in with a plan,” he said.
Once they complete the purchase sometime in May, the village will put out a request for proposals to obtain development ideas. Ideally the new owners will bring in businesses, like a restaurant or store, that generate foot traffic, Nelson said.
Because the buildings are in such poor condition, it’s likely the village will have to offer incentives to offset the amount of money needed to rehab them, he said.
Once the deal with Aniballi is done, Riverside Upholstery will have six months to move. Staff there indicated they would like to stay in West Dundee so the village will be assist them in trying to finding a new location, Nelson said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
