If Brookfield trustees select the developers at Redwood Construction to redevelop the site of the Theater Building, Grand Boulevard could become home to two floors of apartments, or three floors of a hotel, above a ground-floor retail space.
Village officials on Monday, March 9, heard from the first of two development firms that responded to Brookfield’s request for proposals regarding the historic property. Due to last-minute scheduling issues, the other firm, Nath Construction, could not attend the meeting.
Representatives will present Nath’s proposal for mixed-use apartments at an upcoming committee of the whole meeting before trustees pick one developer over the other.
The village acquired the Theater Building at 3723 Grand Blvd. in September 2024 and a neighboring residence at 3717 Grand Blvd. in January 2025. In September 2025, trustees directed village staff to demolish the structures on both parcels, making way for new redevelopment.
Both of Redwood’s proposals would feature a 3,525 square foot retail space on the ground floor. Its proposal for apartments would feature 20 rental units spread across the second and third level.
The proposal for a hotel would include at least 20 rooms across the third and fourth level; the second floor would either be held for an event or second retail space or would hold 10 more hotel rooms for a total of 30, based on the village board’s direction, said Steve Blentlinger, a development lead at Redwood.
“You have one of the greatest attractions in all of the suburbs, especially along the BNSF line, in the Brookfield Zoo. That’sa great asset that attracts I don’t even know off the top of my head how many people and visitors per year,” Blentlinger said. “There’s not really a place for somebody to stay in Brookfield if they were visiting, so this was the catalyst for the conversation about whether the hotel concept could work here.”
Village President Michael Garvey later said Brookfield Zoo Chicago statistics suggest it sees about two million visitors in a year, which could grow further as the zoo makes improvements and implements new programs.
Should the board opt for Redwood and its hotel concept, the firm would conduct a market study to determine if it might be economically viable, Blentlinger added.
If it were found to be viable, and the project proceeded, Redwood would either operate the hotel itself or partner with an established hotel management company while remaining the long-term owner of the property, he said.
“We could cater the hotel layout so that if, say, we try it, and financially, down the road, it doesn’t work out to operate as a hotel, we [could] make it very easy to convert those [rooms] to studio or one-bedroom apartments,” he said. “We have this secondary option that if, for some reason, we can’t get the occupancy, and we don’t see the income needed to make this [hotel] long-term, financially viable, we can easily convert it.”
As part of the proposal, Redwood would preliminarily request at least $2.3 million in funding from Brookfield’s downtown tax-increment funding district.
In a TIF district, the overall valuation of the property within the area is frozen when the district is created. Any property tax revenue that is generated above the frozen value due to improvements that are made is sent to a special fund that the village can use to pay for future improvements. In Illinois, TIF districts cannot last longer than 23 years unless an extension is sought out and granted by local taxing bodies and the state.
For the apartment proposal, Redwood would come out with about $2.4 million in losses, and for the hotel, with about $3.4 million in losses, if not for TIF funds that Brookfield could provide. In either case, most of the funding would be requested upfront, with about $500,000 allocated as the project progresses, requiring Brookfield to borrow money against the district’s TIF fund, which does not have enough money to meet Redwood’s requests.
Despite the preliminary figures, Geoffrey Dickinson, a partner at Brookfield’s TIF consulting firm, SB Friedman, said it would be difficult to say whether such a request would be viable before Brookfield picks a developer to work with.
“They’ve got to evolve their project, and as the project evolves, the TIF financials evolve. We’ve done TIF projections on your behalf for the two scenarios,” Dickinson said. “Frankly, we don’t have an answer quite yet. I think it’s down to, ‘What exactly is the need? How fast do they need it?’ … We can do multiple scenarios for multiple projects, but eventually, at some point, you got to pick a lane.”
Village Manager Tim Wiberg said the board could assess the feasibility of providing TIF funding to each developer before finally choosing one.
“Let’s say we work with Redwood, but we just can’t reach an agreement that’s acceptable to the board. They may decide, or we may decide, ‘You guys, we’re done with you.’ We can bring back the other developer and run through that same process with them,” he said.