Wirtz family pitches 700-acre Ivanhoe Village for Mundelein

Village board will consider annexing the land for project

Ivanhoe Farms and Rocky Wirtz (Google Maps, Getty)
Ivanhoe Farms and Rocky Wirtz (Google Maps, Getty)

The family that owns the Chicago Blackhawks is planning a 700-acre residential development for a portion of unincorporated Lake County.

The Wirtz family business has plans to develop Ivanhoe Farms, located northwest of Mundelein, into a farming-oriented living community with single-family homes and multifamily apartment complexes as well as office and retail, Crain’s reported. The village of Mundelein will hold a hearing next month to consider a proposal to annex the farmland off of Illinois Route 60 into the village.

The land that makes up Ivanhoe Farms has been in the Wirtz family for more than 160 years. It’s the place where Michael Wirtz, great-great grandfather of Rocky Wirtz, current president of the family business, settled after emigrating from Germany in the 1850s.

The Wirtz family’s holdings include the United Center, two banks, downtown office buildings, apartments on the North Side and the Breakthru Beverage Group alcohol wholesaler. The family is also in the process of selling its entire Evanston apartment complex for $35 million.

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Plans for the Ivanhoe Village development call for up to 2,000 homes as well as retail, office and recreational space that will be walking distance from most of the homes. Housing will be offered in a variety of sizes and floorplans, including single-family homes, townhomes, multifamily rentals and age-restricted housing.

Mundelein has been trying to address its recent housing shortage. At the end of October, the village board unanimously approved redevelopment plans for a four-story apartment building that will rise just south of village hall, which is being spearheaded by Synergy Construction.

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— Victoria Pruitt