Pine Tree, Draper Plan $400M-Plus MXD Project

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL-A joint venture between Pine Tree Commercial Realty, based in Northbrook, and Chicago-based Draper and Kramer Inc. is planning a mixed-use development on a 45-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 90 and Route 53. Pine Tree is under contract to acquire the site. The sellers are all partnerships based in the Chicago area, says Peter Borzak, principal with Pine Tree. The total cost to acquire the four parcels was not disclosed. Pine Tree hopes to close on the properties sometime this year, he says. The estimated cost for the development is between $400 million and $500 million, Borzak tells GlobeSt.com.

Besides being at the intersection of two major thoroughfares, the site is near the Schaumburg Convention Center, O’Hare International Airport and the 2.6-million-sf Woodfield Mall. “The visibility from the two highways alone makes it prime land for retail development,” Borzak says. “We believe this is really one of the premier sites in the Chicago area, perhaps in the Midwest, with the highway availability and also the proximity to O’Hare.” An apartment complex currently occupies the majority of the space. There is also a shopping center and vacant car wash on the site.

Pine Tree is partnering with Draper and Kramer because of the property and financial services company’s residential experience in that they “manage thousands of units in the Chicago area,” he says. The joint venture is planning a lifestyle center concept, Borzak says. The center will be “more pedestrian friendly” where a person can “take a walk, buy a cup of coffee and sit on the sidewalk,” he says. The project is expected to have between 400,000 sf and 500,000 sf of retail, 500 to 1,000 residential rental units and two hotels. The retail is expected to have at least two anchor tenants. “We think that, because the visibility is so strong on the two highways, that retailers would be able to have excellent visibility…[attracting] someone new to Chicagoland or the northwest suburbs,” he says.