Schaumburg trustees like park concept for ex-Motorola site
Schaumburg trustees Tuesday endorsed a concept plan for a central 12-acre park that would serve the coming businesses, residences and visitors at the 225-acre Veridian Development on the former Motorola Solutions campus.
As with the overall development, the park is intended to serve several different types of audience with a band shell, two large lawn areas, a central hub building, a sculpture garden and water features.
The trustees' endorsement of the concept allows the village to request proposals from developers to fine-tune the plan in anticipation of preliminary work on the park beginning in the summer of 2020.
Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said the idea is to develop the park gradually, though the band shell and other features at the northern end of the park would likely precede the southern lawn area that could include seasonal amenities like a pop-up ice rink.
The park would be developed and maintained by the village using funds from the tax increment financing district being used as an economic incentive for the redevelopment of the area around the intersection of Algonquin and Meacham roads.
Trustee Marge Connelly also suggested the possibility of corporate sponsorships for naming rights of some elements of the park.
The land is a negotiated donation from the Veridian project's master developer, Chicago-based UrbanStreet Group LLC. Though design of the park is in the village's hands, the firm acknowledged its importance to the entire site.
"It's a great central spine for the development," UrbanStreet Group managing partner Bob Burk said. "We're thrilled that they're moving forward."
The land generally stretches in a relatively narrow north-south strip within the loop of the new central road - Progress Parkway - that runs through the Veridian Development from Meacham Road on the east northwest to Algonquin Road.