Outdoor dining key to redevelopment of Barnes & Noble space at Deerfield Square
Deerfield trustees are a step closer to finalizing a mixed-use redevelopment of the Barnes & Noble at the Shops at Deerfield Square.
The board voted 5-0 on April 5 to accept the Plan Commission's recommendation, made March 10, to redevelop the roughly 27,000 square-foot building at 728 Waukegan Road.
The Deerfield Square Office and Retail Building plan is to provide space for multiple tenants over approximately 12,998 square feet of first-floor space, plus a lobby and entrance on the east end of the building.
The second floor, about 13,344 square feet, will provide boutique office space for either a single tenant or multiple users.
"The first floor will be converted into multiple retail bays and targeting tenants will include apparel - a longshot, but we will try - as well as food and beverage uses. Service uses as well," said Chris Siavelis, senior vice president of CRM Properties Group, representing Kirby Limited Partnership, the owner of Deerfield Square.
He said the project will also add "more outdoor space for dining and gathering," a hot trend in contemporary municipal planning.
Jesper Dalskov of Stantec Architecture said a reallocation of parking will provide outdoor seating of 100 feet by 20 feet with a landscape buffer in front. There will be a loss of six parking spaces, but the four accessible parking spaces will remain.
Dalskov noted that "Retail tenants (will) be determined in the future."
A sculpture garden there now will be moved to the parking island in front of the already approved Residences at Deerfield Square, 833 Deerfield Road.
"The goal is to make as deep sidewalks as possible because the market is really driven by a lot of food uses, and food uses today and moving forward for years to come need outdoor space," Siavelis said.
Already below the 55-foot maximum for a commercial planned unit development, the 49-foot-tall center section of the Barnes & Noble building will be lowered to 41 feet. The 44-foot height on the south, or rear portion, will remain unchanged.
Exterior components include red and gray brick, dark gray metal panels, stone accents and glazing on windows. Second-story windows will be added to the rear of the building.
The village's Appearance Review Commission likewise approved the project March 28.
"I think that deepening that sidewalk, and making a wider buffer space, an activity space, between the building and the drive aisle and the parking lot, really will increase the vitality, the way people move through that space, interact with each other. I think it's what's missing there now," Deerfield trustee Mary Oppenheim said.
After providing several examples of native plants she thought better-suited to the space than those listed with the proposal, Oppenheim said that, although she shares her colleagues' enthusiasm for the plan, she's sad Barnes & Noble is leaving, although Siavelis had been "warning us about this for years."
Siavelis said he'd like to get Barnes & Noble into a smaller space, but the bookseller believed its locations Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills and Old Orchard Mall in Skokie may be sufficient.
"Discussions are ongoing," Siavelis added.