A stalled $33 million retail and residential development in the heart of Schaumburg’s historic district is coming back for board approval and village monetary incentives after a flagging economy put the development on hold since 2005, village officials said.

The Pleasant Square development is expected to come before a village building committee next month, seeking approval for a mix of condominiums, apartments, row homes, single-family homes and a retail center near the corner of Schaumburg and Roselle roads, said Matt Frank, Schaumburg’s economic development coordinator.

“It’ll be one of our last major residential developments in town because there’re so few vacant properties and it’s at the heart of where Schaumburg was founded,” Frank said. “It will have a major impact.”

Unlike the formerly-approved 2005 proposal, this plan has apartments, a retail center and the request for $6 million in village incentives through land acquisition and public improvements, said Warren McElwain, Pleasant Square’s project manager.

The downtrodden housing market caused McElwain to add apartments over a 12-unit retail building for small businesses like dry cleaners and sandwich shops. A wavering economy requires the infusion of village incentives, he said.

McElwain hopes to start building next year. The entire project would be completed in three years, he said.

To be approved again, it’ll have to pass through the village’s Planning, Building and Development Committee, Zoning Board of Appeals and a historic architectural commission that are recommending bodies to the board, which ultimately decides the fate of the project, said Julie Summers Schaumburg's planning services manager.

The PBZ Committee, made up to three village trustees, is expected to review the plan next month, she said.

The committee would review the overall concept and the village monetary incentives, coming from tax-increment-financing funds, which are critical to the project’s success, she said. 

"In this type of market, the project would not happen but for the infusion of this money," Summers said. 

For more information, visit www.Pleasantsquare.com.

-Story submitted by Sue Ter Maat, Triblocal.com reporter