Wild Fork not coming to key Buffalo Grove corner — at least for now

Buffalo Grove had expected Wild Fork to move into a building at Lake-Cook and McHenry roads, but Deputy Village Manager Christopher Stilling said Friday the specialty grocer is not moving ahead with plans to occupy the space.

The developer is marketing the site, Stilling said.

“The permit for Wild Fork was ready to be issued back in April,” Stilling said. “After several attempts to contact them to let them know it was ready, they did inform us that they were no longer planning to proceed. We inquired for more information since they had gone through the entire permit process. Unfortunately, they have not responded with any further details.”

The grocer was planned for an outlot of the new Northwest Community Healthcare medical office building.

“Given the site’s strong location and the continued private investment occurring in the Lake-Cook corridor, staff is confident that we will be welcoming a new business in that space,” Still added.

Mitch Goltz, principal with GW Properties, said they had a “signed lease commitment from Wild Fork.”

“We have not been given any sort of certainty of execution on their part to open. So we’re simply working Plan B while we sort this out with them,” Goltz said. “We have completed all the work that we had to do for them. In the meantime, we are working on backups, in case these guys don’t proceed.”

One of the tenants in that space, the Veterinary Emergency Group, is expected to open in January.

Wild Fork, which has suburban locations in Mount Prospect and Glenview, states on its website it aims to "transform the way we shop for and consume meat.“ Its offerings include cooked octopus flower, elk medallions and alligator tenderloins.

“We as the landlord are doing everything we can on our end to get that space filled as soon as possible,” Goltz said. “We sure hope that Wild Fork proceeds as it is committed to do, but we don’t have any direct control over that.”

When contacted, Wild Fork said it had no updates.

“We are constantly assessing our brick-and-mortar distribution and adjusting in accordance with what we believe will provide the optimal customer experience,” said Alex Bord, head of development at Wild Fork.