Fox River Grove's Downtown Block Is Coming Back With Fewer Storefronts Than It Lost

The grassy lot on Route 14 across from the Metra station is about to become Fox River Landing, a five-story building with 97 apartments and about 6,000 square feet of commercial space. The Village of Fox River Grove issued construction permits on September 18, 2026. Construction should take about 18 months, with occupancy projected for early 2028.

The buildings the village demolished in 2024 held about 13,000 square feet of commercial space and 29 apartments, according to the project's traffic study. So downtown is getting back less than half the commercial space it lost, plus more than three times the households. The village planned it that way, and that plan is what will change downtown.

How Block B Became a Grass Lot

Block B is the village's informal name for the roughly 2-acre stretch between Illinois Street and Lincoln Avenue, running from Northwest Highway back to Opatrny Drive. The municipal center is not part of it. The Village Board started the eminent domain process for the block in 2018, Shaw Local's Northwest Herald reported. One of the properties was New China at 308 Route 14, which opened in May 1975 and closed on October 31, 2021.

The village paid $3.5 million for nine parcels from five owners over three years. In March 2024 the Village Board unanimously approved a $350,000 bid from Omega III LLC to demolish the buildings, the Northwest Herald reported that May. After that came a long wait. According to the village's Block B page, the village hired a commercial real estate broker to market the site in October 2022 and signed memoranda of understanding with two developers. Neither project happened. Village Administrator Derek Soderholm told the Daily Herald the village had been looking for a project for more than 10 years, and that a deal with an earlier developer proposing something similar fell apart in 2024.

Every Version of the Plan Had Less Retail

The commercial square footage shrank with every version of the plan. The apartment count rose and then settled.

In 2024, Soderholm said the village wanted apartments with retail but that "the market will ultimately determine" what replaced the block, the Northwest Herald reported. The table shows what the market decided.

No tenant has been named for the 6,000 square feet. The space could be split in two, and the developers have said they picture a restaurant, the Daily Herald reported in April. Developers estimate the building will house 166 people. Village President Marc McLaughlin described the project in those terms in the village's September release, saying it adds "more Fox River Grove residents within the downtown area to help support our local businesses."

The Blocks Expected to Feel It First

The businesses that stand to gain are a short walk away, on Lincoln Avenue. The village's business directory lists Doctor Wood's Guitar Emporium at 310 Lincoln, El Sombrero at 314 Lincoln, All Ways Art Gallery at 412 Lincoln, and King Pin Lanes at 418 Lincoln. Bruneau is listed at 401.5 Northwest Highway. That cluster is what McLaughlin means by "our local businesses": a guitar shop, a Mexican restaurant, a gallery and a bowling alley, all within easy walking distance of 97 new front doors.

The building will also have a social life of its own. Units range from studios to two-bedrooms, about 568 to 1,223 square feet. The ground floor includes a gym and a workspace, and outside there's a resident area with grills, seating, a pergola and a dog run. Rick Filler, president of Harlem Irving Companies, told the Daily Herald the building will have a "boutique hotel" feel with a "very active social area." If the plan works, some of that activity moves out onto Lincoln Avenue in the evenings.

The developers have built in downtowns like this before. The same group developed the Enclave apartment and townhouse complex at 111 E. Crystal Lake Ave. in downtown Crystal Lake, along with several projects in Mount Prospect, according to the Daily Herald's May coverage.

Parking Was the Question at Every Meeting

A building meant to add foot traffic still has to deal with cars. The plan includes 170 parking spaces: 126 in a lot behind the building and 44 diagonal spaces on the streets around it. Village code calls for 185 to 215 spaces, depending on the retail use. If the lot fills up, the developers pointed to the Metra station lot across Route 14, the village hall lot, and parking across Lincoln Avenue, the Daily Herald reported.

Commissioner Devin Bright put the doubt plainly at the April hearing. "Nobody is going to be moving in here without a car," he said, according to the Daily Herald. "It's not urban, it's suburban." At the May board meeting, residents raised parking again, along with whether the fire department could handle emergency response at a five-story building. The same April article noted that a state law taking effect June 1, passed as part of last year's transit bill, prohibits parking minimums for housing within a half mile of a transit hub such as the Metra station across the street.

On traffic, the study found that Fox River Landing will generate about as much peak-hour traffic as the buildings that used to be there, with slightly more in the morning and slightly less in the evening. The Daily Herald reported the study projects less than a 2% increase in daily traffic on Route 14.

The Tax Base Grows on a Long Delay

The village also created a new financing district to make the project work. Block B already sat inside a downtown TIF set up in 2015. In early 2026 a planning consultant told the board that redevelopment was "unlikely" without a separate district, the Northwest Herald reported. Village documents put the project's cost at $21 million. On February 17, 2026, the board adopted three ordinances creating the Fox River Grove Downtown Redevelopment Project Area #3, as recorded in the village's July 7 board meeting packet.

The village's planning report estimates the finished building will produce about $591,331 a year in property taxes across all taxing districts once fully occupied. The village's share is about $38,496. Because the project is TIF-supported, that new tax revenue doesn't go to the taxing districts, the village included, until the district expires in 2050. Until then, the village's estimate puts the payoff in the people living on the block. The added property tax revenue reaches the village and other taxing districts after 2050.

Between Now and Early 2028

The milestones so far:

1. May 2026: The Village Board approved the special use ordinance. The developer, operating as FRG Partners LLC, aimed to start construction in late summer or early fall.
2. September 18, 2026: The village issued construction permits and said work would begin immediately.
3. Coming up: A short groundbreaking ceremony with village officials and the developer, which the village says it's coordinating.
4. Early 2028: Projected occupancy, about 18 months after construction starts.

The agreement with the developers also requires that the village's health, fire and building officials can enter the site during construction to inspect for code compliance. Over the next year and a half, construction fencing will go up across from the Metra platform, on the corner of Lincoln Avenue that El Sombrero and King Pin Lanes customers walk past.

If you own near downtown Fox River Grove and want to talk about what a building like Fox River Landing could mean for your block, The Kate Fanselow Group follows these projects closely. Let's talk about your next move.