After buying the Theater Building and an adjacent parcel along Grand Boulevard last year, Brookfield has agreed to purchase two more properties in a different part of town.
Village trustees on Monday approved contracts for Brookfield to purchase 9509 Burlington Ave. and 4011 Blanchan Ave., two adjacent plots of land near the Congress Park train station.
The village board agreed to pay $875,000 for the Burlington property and $935,000 for the Blanchan property according to the purchase agreements. Community Development Director Libby Popovic told the Landmark funds for both purchases come from Brookfield’s tax increment financing (TIF) district at Congress Park, which encompasses the train parking lots at 4010 Dubois Blvd and on Burlington Avenue.
Under Illinois law, when a municipality creates a TIF district, the combined property value is established as the base; as the property value increases, any taxes paid on land valued above the base goes into a fund for the municipality to use on further improvements like land purchases.
Popovic said Brookfield is hoping to attract a developer for the parcels — as well as the surrounding area that the village already owned — to create new multi-family housing near Ogden Avenue.
“[Brookfield has] been looking at doing land acquisitions since they came up with a comprehensive plan. That [was] like 2018, so that’s always been on the radar,” she said Monday. “That whole area [has been].”
She said the development would tie into Brookfield’s Energize Ogden plan to improve all modes of transportation and revitalize the commercial district along Ogden Avenue. She said Brookfield officials have not nailed down whether they plan to seek one developer or multiple for the properties, as they have yet to finalize a request for development proposals.
“Most likely, it would be one developer developing the entire unit because we’re looking for something cohesive and not where it’s broken up into multiple projects,” she said. “It’s right by the train station. It feeds right into the whole comprehensive plan of bringing density into that area because it’s close to the downtown, close to the train, and it allows for pedestrian, transit-oriented [growth].”
While Brookfield has bought other properties in the past, Popovic said village officials have leaned into the tactic recently as they’ve seen the chance to buy land arise.
“It’s a strategy that a lot of municipalities employ. It works for us at this point because we had the opportunity to acquire some of these properties,” she said. “Down the road, as development grows and other developers come in, it might not necessarily be the village procuring the properties that will become available, but it’s definitely one of the strategies that Brookfield has looked into and is favorable about.”
Popovic added that the village has received a lot of interest from potential developers on the Theater Building and other Grand Boulevard properties it bought last year.
“I’ve spoken with a couple of developers. I’ve actually toured the site with a few developers that are very interested in it. We’re waiting for full submissions because the [request for proposals] has a lot of different parts to it, but the serious developers are putting their things together on that, so I’m looking forward to seeing it. We’re closing the process by the end of May,” she said. “Brookfield is moving forward with a lot of the developments. It’s just poised and ready to bring that in.”
Correction, March 27, 2025, 12:35 p.m.: A previous version of this story used a graphic that misrepresented the properties Brookfield is purchasing and included private property. The new graphic reflects the division of property according to village officials. The Landmark apologizes for the error.
