Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLAN COMMISSION - 06/18/2018 - Bixmor, Town Center Resub, 910 BiesterfieldElk Grove Village Plan Commission Minutes June 18, 2018 Present: J. Glass S. Carlson F. Geinosky J. Morrill G. Schumm P. Ayers K. Weiner Absent: T. Thompson P. Rettberg Staff: M. Jablonski, Assistant Manager J. Polony, Deputy Director of Community Development R. Raphael, Engineering Supervisor Petitioner: C. H. Cooper, Attorney E. Horvath, Brixmor Property Group B. Rishforth, Planet Fitness Chairman Glass called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Item 1: June 4, 2018 Meeting Minutes M. Jablonski informed the Plan Commission that minutes for the June 4 meeting would be available for approval at the following meeting. Item 2: PC Docket #18-3 - Petition for Resubdivision from one (1) lot to four (4) lots and related variations for the property at 910 Biesterfield Road (Elk Grove Town Center) Chairman Glass read the legal notice into the record and asked the Petitioner to explain his purpose before the Plan Commission. C.H. Cooper explained they were before the Plan Commission to petition for the resubdivision of the property commonly known as the Elk Grove Town Center at 980 Elk Grove Town Center in the B-5 zoning district, along with associated variations, which he will now describe. C.H. Cooper stated the first variation is to allow no front right setbacks at the former Dominicks and new Planet Fitness site. 1 C.H. Cooper explained the current conditions of the site. He stated that in the upper left hand corner there is a stand-alone out lot building which currently houses a Walgreens. In the lower center is a larger structure which housed a Dominick's and has been empty for a quite a while. C.H. Cooper stated the proposed plan is to subdivide the existing one lot shopping center into four lots. C.H. Cooper stated the intent is to redevelop a section of the former Dominick's into a gym and the remainder of the former Dominick's will be redeveloped in the future with a new occupant. C.H. Cooper stated that the variations are part of a larger subdivision application that is scheduled to be addressed tomorrow. C.H. Cooper stated that Lot 2, the Walgreen's site, provides parking on their site and no variation is sought for parking for that portion of the property. C.H. Cooper stated the larger balance of the shopping center is Lot 1, which houses the common area parking for the entire shopping center. Lot 3 will be the larger portion of the Dominick's site, which will be redeveloped in the future. To the right of Lot 3 is Lot 4, the smaller portion of the Dominick's site, which will be redeveloped into a physical fitness center. C. H. Cooper explained that Lot 3 and Lot 4 are an in -line shopping center, so the subdivision will involve no parking changes because it does not involve the common area parking located in Lot 1. Variations are being sought for Lot 3 and Lot 4 in regards to parking, since they will use the common area parking and have no parking within those lots. C.H. Cooper stated that in addition to setbacks there are various requirements in regards to minimum required front yard lot width. Lot 4 will be below that at approximately 93 feet. C.H. Cooper stated Lots 3 and 4 would not have direct access to the roadway. C.H. Cooper stated Lots ^f � _tom L___ a"7"a__ 17 3 and 4 would have separate utility lines. C.H. Cooper stated that specific to the variations there are no front yard setbacks at the former Dominick's. C.H. Cooper stated a minimum 10 or more acres is required for the B-5 zoned properties, but there is an exemption in the zoning code which states that if the sites are fully contained by B-5 that requirement can be waived. C.H. Cooper stated there is a requirement of five parking spots per 1,000 square feet of area. Relief from this requirement is being sought for Lots 3 and 4. C.H. Cooper stated that maximum ground coverage of 20% would be exceeded in Lots 3, 4, and 2. Minimum Lot width is 150 feet at front yard lines. Relief from this requirement is being sought in regards to Lot 4. C.H. Cooper stated that for all intents and purposes the center will be in operation just as it is today, the only change is the subdivision from one whole lot into four individual lots. C. H. Cooper stated the purpose of the variations is to attract new businesses into the Town Center according to market research in the area. There has been interest in bringing a gym into the area and Lot 4 would provide space to fulfill that use. C.H. Cooper stated that the variations would increase the site's economic liability and increase tax revenue for the site. 2 E. Horvath stated that he was representing Brixmor Property Group. He stated that proposed Lots 3 and 4 were- previously leased to and operated by Dominick's grocery store. Their lease has recently expired. They had been paying a large amount of rent despite not operating in the site. E. Horvath stated that after they leave, the center will be losing money and that it is not sustainable for very long. E. Horvath stated that throughout their portfolio they have had trouble leasing large boxes 75,000 Square Feet and above. He stated that this petition is a way to keep the property viable for retail use. E. Horvath stated that from his perspective, if a center is not making money they cannot hold on to it for very long. If this does not move forward, they anticipate selling the property, which would not be a good idea for anyone. He went on to say that moving forward with the subdivision would allow them to reactivate the site as a retail use and provide economic benefits to the community. He noted that similar sites have sold to self -storage or car rentals, changing the traditional retail use to something entirely different, which is not something they would want to do. B. Rishforth stated that he represented Planet Fitness. He stated that they have done substantial market research and have opened 28 Planet Fitness centers across Cook County. He stated that Elk Grove is an attractive location and they have been in negotiations with multiple sites in the community. He stated that the Elk Grove Town Center site is a desirable size for their facility, once subdivided to 18,000 square feet. B. Rishforth stated that the new Planet Fitness would revive tenancy at the Town Center. B. Rishforth stated that they have demonstrated capability in implementing co -tenancy across Cook County and nation-wide and are seeking to implement this strategy in Lot 3. Commissioner Schumm asked the petitioner why they changed their name from M.P. Holdings Inc. to LLC. E. Horvath stated that was the name of the company before it went public; it was an amalgamation of different companies. Commissioner Ayers asked if the Petitioners were buying both Lots 3 and 4 or just Lot 3. B. Rishforth stated they are purchasing both lots. Commissioner Ayers asked if it was their practice to have a free-standing building, meaning they own the lot. B. Rishforth stated their strategy is to seek out the most attractive properties for lease or for sale. B. Rishforth stated it is not atypical to purchase a larger parcel and lease portions to co -tenants. He stated they have successfully done this with larger Dominick's stores and Sears stores who have gone vacant across Cook County. Commissioner Ayers asked if they have property acquisition agent, and why they did not reach out to Brixmor to lease the property instead of purchasing it. B. Rishforth stated they did do that, he stated they had a lease agreement in place but Brixmor had a mandate to exit the property, therefore they were then only presented with the option to purchase the property and that is what they are pursuing. Commissioner Ayers asked Brixmor why they are not leasing to Planet Fitness. E. Horvath stated they could not make the economics work in a favorable way. The amount of downtime to hold the property with no earnings was too long and the cost could not be justified. Commissioner Ayers asked how a multi -million dollar company seems to be running on a shoestring budget, not able to afford a few dollars a month to operate and now needing to sell wholesale. Commissioner Ayers stated that in testimony Brixmor stated that there would be very obnoxious users and that if the subdivision did not go through the property would be sold wholesale because it was not worth very much. C. H. Cooper stated that they did not say that new obnoxious users were going to come in, they were explaining the situation using examples of cases they have witnessed in the marketplace where there is large warehouse structure for big box retailers. C. H. Cooper stated they were very fortunate to have Planet Fitness come in as a partner. He stated the site was better suited to sell. Commissioner Ayers stated they met with the owners of the vacant Food for Less two weeks ago, and that owner will be fully rented shortly with space that was formerly vacant for a long time. Commissioner Ayers stated the duration of the petitioner's hardship has not been very long. He stated that he has a hard time overturning ordinance to mitigate the petitioner's financial hardship. He stated that he cannot believe the amount of variations the petitioner is asking for. Commissioner Ayers stated that this would make it open season for developers to come in and change every shopping center in the Village with no setbacks and no parking. Commissioner Ayers stated they should find somebody who can afford the property and do a better job at managing it to find the right tenant mix. Commissioner Carlson inquired about parking; he stated that he has a hard time understanding a property with no parking whatsoever. C. H. Cooper stated that operations of the Town Center would remain exactly as it is today. He stated that in essence it would be a reciprocal easement agreement where all parking in Lot 1 would be continuously available for all tenants of the entire project with the exception of Walgreen's given that they have their own parking. C. H. Cooper stated that no new construction is proposed to the Town Center that could upset or burden the current parking. C. H. Cooper stated the Village does have mechanisms, and if in the future tenants are seeking additional forms of relief it would have to go through the Plan Commission process. Commissioner Carlson asked why the Walgreen's lot was being separated. C. H. Cooper stated that due to the attractive location, because they are an out lot with their own parking and are very stable, they want to be able to dispose of that property in the future. C. H. Cooper stated they want to address the future plans for the center today in one application. Commissioner Carlson asked if there are any plans with Lot 3 and if petitioners knew what type of business would go in there. 4 C. H. Cooper stated he is not aware of what restrictions the Village has on new tenants. Commissioner Weiner asked Village staff how many parking spaces there are for Lots 3 and 4. M. Jablonski stated that there is no separate parking for any of the proposed lots outside of the Walgreens lot, there is common parking for the entire center. J. Polony stated that if there are 75,000 square feet for Lot 3 and 4, five parking stalls per thousand is what is required. He stated all features there now would be utilized the same way. Commissioner Carlson asked what variance was considered a couple of months ago for the Town Cetner. M. Jablonski stated it was a text amendment to allow a fitness center use in the B-5 zoning district. Commissioner Weiner asked M. Jablonski if changes had been made to parking requirements as part of the text amendment. M. Jablonski stated that there were no changes to parking at the site, it was only a change of allowable uses. Commissioner Geinosky asked if Lot 4 would be used for Planet Fitness, and if so, would Lot 3 be leased to only one tenant or multiple tenants. B. Rishforth stated Lot 3 would be leased to a single co -tenant. Commissioner Geinosky asked what type of a tenant would come in, or if there were any known interest in Lot 3. B. Rishforth stated they do have interested tenants for Lot 3 and are in active conversations with co -tenants in other centers they operate about partnering on this site. Commissioner Geinosky asked petitioner to tell the Plan Commission about some of the other centers they operate and what type of businesses they have in them. B. Rishforth stated there are tenants that include large national retailers, coffee shops, charter schools, and rental centers. He further stated that they are in active conversations for large retailers including grocery and general retailers. Commissioner Geinosky asked the petitioner if he had lots as large as Lot 3 in other centers. B. Rishforth stated they have centers larger than Lot 3 in their portfolio for one single tenant. Commissioner Geinosky stated that he is uncomfortable with granting the long list of variations when the Village does not even know what the tenant is going to be. Commissioner Geinosky stated that he is uncertain which variations are really needed because of not knowing the tenant. M. Jablonski stated that she wanted to clarify that all of the requested variations are simply what is required by Village Code to re -subdivide the existing lot into the four pieces as shown. She stated that the variations relate to code requirements, and are not operational requests from the petitioner, and that the resubdivision will simply allow the shopping center to keep operating as - is with separate owners. 5 Commissioner Geinosky asked if Brixmor would still own Lots 1 and 2. C.H. Cooper stated yes, Brixmor would still own Lots 1 and 2. Chairman Glass asked how long ago Dominick's closed. C.H. Cooper stated four and a half years ago on December 13, 2013. Chairman Glass if they had subleased to Caputo's for a short period of time. C.H. Cooper stated yes that is correct. Chairman Glass asked what had been done in the last four and a half years to market the vacant lots. C.H. Cooper stated the Dominick's lease terminated a month ago. He said that they have been in negotiations with ten different entities to come into the space, but had to wait until the Dominick's lease ended because Dominick's would not permit another tenant to come into the space unless Brixmor allowed them to break their lease in totality. C. H. Cooper stated that they have been in negotiations with Planet Fitness for over a year. He stated they have marketed and been in conversations but were not able to move forward freely without Dominick's consent before their lease ended. As soon as that terminated they have moved full speed to have Planet Fitness come into the space. Chairman Glass asked if the prospective tenants could not commit a deal because Dominick's would not allow to have tenants in a store they were paying rent on and not utilizing. C.H. Cooper stated he cannot say that was the case for every tenant in negotiations. Chairman Glass said he did not buy that argument. He stated he finds it unconceivable that Dominick's would want to continue paying a hefty rent on a 75,000 square foot box, when they had the opportunity to put someone in there. He stated he finds the petitioner's explanation hard to believe. Chairman Glass asked when the company went public. C.H. Cooper stated that Brixmor went public on accounting year 20113. Chairman Glass asked if at that point the property was a performing property. C.H. Cooper stated Jewel Osco bought the Dominick's portfolio after Dominick's went bankrupt in 2013, the consent that was sought was from Jewel Osco moving forward. Jewel remains in the Chicago market and it was difficult to gain their consent to occupy the space. Chairman Glass stated that he could accept that explanation and asked why they approved of Caputo's. C.H. Cooper stated that Caputo's is not seen as a direct competitor to Jewel Osco, they are a small retailer and Jewel Osco is a big box grocery store. Chairman Glass asked the petitioner how many retailers Planet Fitness has nationwide. B. Rishforth stated that by the end of the quarter they would have would be approximately 1,600 retailer locations, including Central America and Canada. Chairman Glass asked how long they have been in business. B. Rishforth stated that in August they will have 26 years in business. Chairman Glass stated that they have done a good job of growing. M. Chairman Glass asked if the new tenants would be national tenants for Lot 3. B. Rishforth stated they would be national or global tenants. Chairman Glass asked if there was an understanding between the tenants that they would not bail out in a year. B. Rishforth stated that there was. Chairman Glass asked why Planet Fitness thinks this market is good at this location when there is a fitness center less than a half a mile away. B. Rishforth explained that Planet Fitness has a different business model. The Fitness Center in the Village has a broader offerings for families. Planet Fitness is a core offering around cardio and core fitness for average users. Planet Fitness poses itself as a no -commitment, judgement free zone that attracts families and individuals for an affordable price with top equipment. He stated that they coexist in markets with YMCA's, community centers, and local fitness centers. Chairman Glass asked what their economic model was. B. Rishforth stated they have two memberships. Basic membership is $10 per month with no commitments, Premier membership is $21.99 per month with an annual fee of $39.99. Premier members get unlimited reciprocal privileges to visit any stores globally in different countries free of charge up to 10 times per month, as well as a free guest every time the member is in the club. B. Rishforth stated that premier membership also includes free tanning, hydro massage and beauty skin treatments with no additional charge. Chairman Glass asked how many employees a Planet Fitness typically has. B. Rishforth stated that each location as approximately 20 employees. Chairman Glass asked what the hours of operation are. B. Rishforth stated that Planet Fitness is open 24-hours. Chairman Glass asked if there was a smaller staff in the evening that in day hours. B. Rishforth stated yes, they flex their staff during the busy hours. Chairman Glass asked what makes Planet Fitness believe they will be successful. He is having trouble finding the differences between Planet Fitness and the local fitness centers. B. Rishforth stated that price is a factor, he also stated Planet Fitness is a high -end fitness facility at an affordable price point. He went on to say 60% of Planet Fitness users have never had a gym membership before. He stated Planet Fitness also works as a complementary fitness location to clients with gym memberships elsewhere and that creates flexible options for the membership base. Chairman Glass opened the floor to the public for comments. R. Kluck, resident at 146 Essex, stated that the Pavilion has everything one needs for fitness including and indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The Pavilion has more things than Planet Fitness has to offer and he does not expect Planet Fitness to have a swimming pool or a Jacuzzi. 7 R. Muck stated he thinks Planet Fitness is up to something which he cannot put his finger on and he is against it. W. Johnson, an owner of the Elk Grove Cinema, stated that everything sounds very positive, his only concern is that parking easement agreement with Brixmor is maintained. Chairman Glass stated that whatever Brixmor does, it will not affect the existing parking arrangement with the theatre. The only change that will occur is that the Dominick's space will now be subdivided. W. Johnson stated that it would be much nicer to have an active building rather than an inactive one. C.H. Cooper stated that it is the goal of Planet Fitness to complement the other fitness centers in town by adding operation hours for clients who need to work out in non-traditional hours. Commissioner Geinosky asked if there would be retail centers inside the Fitness Center, for example health drinks and powders. B. Rishforth stated they sell water, Gatorade, muscle milk, snacks in a cooler and are sold over the counter. He stated they also sell clothing and accessories within the facility. Commissioner Geinosky asked if Planet Fitness had showers. B. Rishforth stated yes it is a full scale gym with private changing areas in the facility. Commissioner Ayers stated Brixmor could have leased the property instead of selling it. He stated he does not think it is in the best interest of the Village to grant the petition, and that Brixmor needs to find the right tenant mix. Commissioner Ayers stated that the B-5 zoning district took a lot of time to create and the number of variations requested by the petitioner strike him as wrong. He stated he is voting no, because Brixnior's problem should not be the Village's problem. Chairman Glass stated that Brixmor's problem could become the Village's problem if the space remains unoccupied. He stated that he understands Commissioner Ayer's point but that the variations are not changing uses, parking or anything else. As Village staff stated earlier, it is a technicality to make sure the lots are compliant and there is no change to the layout of the center. Commissioner Ayers stated that other shopping centers will now be able to come back with crazy requests and it will be difficult to deny them if these requests are approved. He stated that their economic hardship does not become the Village's economic hardship. He stated they are a big company, and have the option to lower their rent. He stated that the Town Center is the crown jewel of Elk Grove Village. Chairman Glass stated the Town Center is not performing. Commissioner Ayers stated the economy is growing. He stated that Brixmor is trying to blackmail the Village because they are going into bankruptcy. He stated that is just his opinion and that allowing those variations is the wrong way to go. RECOMMENDATION E3 Commissioner Geinosky moved to recommend approval of the following: • Petition to Resubdivide the property at 910 Biesterfield Road (Elk Grove Town Center) from one -lot to four lots; • Special Location Parking Plan to allow parking for Lots 3 and 4 to use the common parking areas on Lot 1. • Variation from required 25' front yard setback to allow no front yard setback for Lots 3 and 4. • Variation from required ten (10) acre lot size minimum for B-5 zoned properties to allow Lot 2 to be 1.43 acres, Lot 3 to be 1.61 acres, and Lot 4 to be 0.46 acres. • Variation from the required five (5) parking stalls required per each 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area to allow zero parking stalls on Lots 3 and 4. • Variation to exceeding the 20% maximum ground coverage to allow 22.5% coverage on Lot 2, 93% on Lot 3, and 96% on Lot 4. • Variation from minimum front yard lot width of 150' to allow front yard lot width of 93.49' for Lot 4. • Variation to exceed the maximum floor area ratio of .2, to allow floor area ratio of .225 for Lot 2, 0.93 for Lot 3, and 0.96 for Lot 4. • Variation to allow zero designated loading spaces for Lot 4. • Variation to waive the required rear easements for Lots 3 and 4. With the following conditions: Update the Plat of Subdivision with respect to the comments from the Department of Community Development memo dated June 14, 2018. 2. Village staff must approve the Declaration of Covenants and sanitary sewer agreement between the proposed lots. 3. Each owner shall have their own water service. Commissioner Schumm seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Geinosky, Glass, Morrill, Schumm, Weiner AYES, Ayers NAY) the motion carried. Item 3: Adjournment Commissioner Weiner motioned to adjourn the meeting and Commissioner Carlson seconded the motion. Upon voting (Carlson, Geinosky, Glass, Rettberg, Schumm, Thompson, Weiner AYES) the motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Maggie Jablonski Assistant Village Manager C: Chairman and Members of the Plan Commission, Mayor and Board of Trustees, Village Clerk 10