A Successful Downtown Northbrook Redevelopment Can Only Happen With More Traffic

Three Wednesdays have passed, and I am happy to say that I haven’t been sitting at Caribou Coffee by myself. In case you missed it, I have been hosting weekly conversations on .

Basically, I just sit down with a Get Involved Northbrook sign and hope someone shows up. And, yes, people actually are coming! It’s been a nice and interesting group of people. And the conversation changes as new people join our circle.

We talked about lots of different topics that pertain to Northbrook. From Northbrook Days, to the Park District, to Winestyles closing its doors.

We also talked about traffic count in Downtown Northbrook. This means how many cars pass down the street on a given day. A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed a developer who said that Downtown Northbrook could never become the town that us residents hope that it can be because we just don’t have a high enough traffic count.

12,500 cars pass down Shermer at Meadow every day. That is compared to 60,000 cars that pass through the Deerfield and Waukegan road intersection. And most of the 12,500 cars are back and forth traffic.... meaning... it’s the same people.

What does that mean to Downtown Northbrook?

It means that when developers are looking at space, Downtown Northbrook is not be as desirable as other North Shore communities that have a higher traffic count. 

The only way to get more traffic to our downtown is to either increase the car traffic, or increase the people. And I don’t think that Northbrook residents are particularly keen on having even more car traffic down Cherry and Walters.

However, the way to increase the people is by increasing density. You can increase density by building residential apartments and condos above some of the locations in Downtown Northbrook (like Meadow Shopping Plaza). Or do what Metra is suggesting by building condos near the train station and turning the existing parking lot into a parking structure.

The time and energy that has been devoted to the discussion of Downtown Northbrook has been extensive, and certainly, I don't want to dismiss the immense efforts of those involved. However, is our ultimate goal to increase foot and car traffic in Downtown Northbrook?

Because without increasing the traffic, it seems as though we might be creating a new downtown that doesn't have much of a chance of succeeding.

Maybe this is why it has been so hard to develop a plan for Downtown Northbrook. Because we are trying to force traffic into Northbrook and down Shermer and Cherry that doesn't naturally exist.

So, I don't know what the right answer is at this moment. But hearing from a successful developer that Northbrook will never succeed because of its poor traffic count, made me take a step back and really think.

What happens if we actually build it, and they don't come...where does that leave Downtown Northbrook then? 

Kati Spaniak is a 36-year resident of Northbrook, a former Northbrook Village Board Trustee and a Real Estate Broker with @properties specializing in selling real estate in Northbrook. Her GetInvolvedNorthbrook page is to keep the residents of Northbrook involved and active in the community.