'Edge City' Remains Picky as it Matures

Schaumburg, a former agrarian community that began to explode in the 1970s before selectively adding a heavy dose of retail and office development into the mix, has 5.6% of its land undeveloped. Examples are two 3-acre parcels east of Roselle Road, south of the Northwest Tollway, on the market at $367,000 per acre.

"Every community can afford to wait for quality. Every community can say no often enough until there's something of quality we can say yes to," says Village President Alan Larson. "Our challenge for the last several years is to hold out for quality, and to hold fast to our comprehensive planning. However, we're aware of the increasing competition from other suburbs."

That was evident in the region's chase for Boeing Corp.'s new world headquarters, which ultimately landed at 100 N. Riverside Plaza in the West Loop. Among four contenders in the Chicago market were Hines Interests LP's 320,000 sf at Woodfield Preserve II along I-290/Route 53 in Larson's Schaumburg as well as Prime Realty Group's Continental Towers along the Northwest Tollway. But other suburbs including Bannockburn, Elgin and Westmont were in the hunt earlier.

While picking and choosing what gets built rather than reacting to developers' proposals, Schaumburg continues to pursue cultural venues in the village, including a planned convention center that will include a 2,500-seat theater for the performing arts southwest of the Northwest Tollway and Meacham Road. "The theater will be a gorgeous facility," Larson says. "We'll only build it once."

Larson was included in the region's wining and dining of Boeing officials at the Art Institute, a lavish party that is believed to have gone a long way to swaying the airplane manufacturer representatives as it gave them a chance to rub elbows with other corporate higher-ups who touted the region's livability. He hardly sounds defected at the city's gain.

"We don't see competition from Chicago. We see Schaumburg complementing Chicago. We see Chicago complementing Schaumburg," Larson says. "We welcome the resurgence and development that's occurring in the city of Chicago."Larson praises Mayor Richard M. Daley for forging a regional coalition to pursue common legislative goals in Springfield, including improving transportation.