Villages create Comprehensive Plans for a reason. They want an intentional future. They have goals they seek to accomplish. They have a direction they plan to steer toward.
Brookfield has such a plan. It was updated in 2018. Now, with three property acquisitions completed in 2025, the village is moving toward executing that plan to bring new development in the neighborhood abutting Ogden Avenue and adjacent to the Congress Park Metra station.
With a large parcel of land now assembled, and village officials tell the Landmark that the purchase of 9500 Ogden is the final piece of its puzzle, it is ready to move forward. The likely goal is to add multi-use development(s) that will bring added housing density and possibly some new commercial to the area.
This plan accomplishes two things. It continues the village’s focus on remaking the sad mish-mash that is Ogden Avenue, and it furthers efforts to build more transit-oriented development that takes advantage of Brookfield’s great asset of Metra access.
This project is possible because of Brookfield’s foresight in creating the Ogden Avenue Tax Increment Financing District years back. The early $2.4 million spent on these three properties have been paid for out of the TIF. This is exactly why TIFs exist.
Libby Popovic, Brookfield’s community development director, says the village is actively talking to multiple developers already about this opportunity. That’s how this process is supposed to work. And with several successful developments either completed or in process, Brookfield certainly must appeal to developers in this moment.
We worry, as we should all worry, about the impacts of tariff chaos on both the broad markets and, specifically, the run up in construction costs tied to economic uncertainty.
That said, good for Brookfield for making a plan and working that plan.