The specifics of what LG plans for the property are unclear; the location consists of 5 empty office buildings totaling 575,000 sq. ft alongside the south facet of Lake Cook Road. But the Deerfield board of trustees just lately provided a touch at what could also be within the works. On July 5, the board permitted the creation of a brand new “entertainment and limited retail business district” for an space that features the Lake Cook Road property. The new zoning lays out a spread of retail, restaurant and leisure makes use of that may very well be allowed there, pending approval of the village plan fee and board.

Included on the record: sports-themed leisure reminiscent of “golf driving ranges with entertainment,” miniature golf, skating rinks and bowling alleys; eating places with out drive-thru service; eating places with dwell leisure, a microbrewery, a comedy membership, and a digital actuality institution. A multifamily residential improvement may be a part of a mixed-use mission.

An LG spokesman declined to remark, however a supply conversant in the group’s plan stated its imaginative and prescient aligns with the brand new zoning district.

Deerfield Assistant Village Manager Andrew Lichterman stated the village has not acquired any formal proposal for the location however established the brand new zoning district to sign to builders what varieties of makes use of they’d wish to see if the property is not revived as an workplace campus.

“It’s a proactive approach to allow for the redevelopment of this site,” stated Lichterman, who emphasised that any proposal to redevelop the property with one of many new leisure or retail makes use of would wish to undergo a public listening to course of and win the backing of the village’s plan fee and board of trustees.

LG’s contract to purchase the previous Walgreens buildings stands as a high-profile instance of builders eyeing new makes use of for empty, outmoded workplace campuses within the wake of a COVID-19 pandemic-fueled distant work motion. Companies chopping again on workspace have pushed workplace emptiness to a document excessive and pushed down workplace property values, prompting some proposals to rework workplace buildings into one thing else. Warehouse builders have been among the many most prevalent suitors, together with in Deerfield, the place Chicago-based Bridge Industrial wants to redevelop the Baxter International headquarters campus into an industrial park.

LG would take a distinct strategy with retail and leisure makes use of, betting it might create a brand new vacation spot on a property that has been largely dormant for years.

Walgreens leases the buildings by way of August however not occupies them. The drugstore big offered the buildings in 2013 to San Diego-based Realty Income in an $85 million sale-leaseback deal. The buildings are owned immediately by Phoenix-based Orion Office REIT, which was spun off from Realty Income in 2021.

Orion disclosed in May that it had reached an settlement to promote the Walgreens buildings and two different unrelated properties for a complete of $41 million. LG’s pending buy worth isn’t clear, and an Orion spokesman didn’t reply to a request for remark.

LG would not be the primary native developer to rework an outmoded workplace property right into a mixed-use leisure mission. A enterprise led by Chicago-based CityStreet Group took on an enormous redevelopment of the previous Motorola Solutions campus in Schaumburg right into a 225-acre mixed-use campus that features luxurious residences and a Topgolf driving vary.

The buildings LG is underneath contract to purchase are separate from Walgreens’ present headquarters, which is simply west of the property on Wilmot Road. The way forward for that 40-plus-acre headquarters property, the place Walgreens has been primarily based since 1975, can also be in query. With the rise of distant work reshaping its workspace wants, Walgreens earlier this 12 months disclosed that it plans to sell off roughly two-thirds of its headquarters campus and consolidate staff into the remaining portion. The firm additionally has a big workplace downtown on the redeveloped Old Post Office. 

The Lake Cook Road buildings have been constructed in levels from 1976 to 1984, in response to a flyer from CBRE, which started advertising and marketing the property on the market final 12 months. The web site is without doubt one of the few Deerfield properties situated in Cook County.

LG is greatest recognized for its residential tasks, the place it has been notably lively over the previous couple years. The agency broke floor final 12 months on a 363-unit residence constructing at 210 N. Aberdeen St. within the Fulton Market District, a part of a large residential plan it has proposed for the stylish neighborhood. Among different tasks, LG can also be creating a 227-unit residence complicated in River North and just lately started building on a $300 million, 747-unit residential constructing that stands to be one of many largest residential buildings in downtown Phoenix.