Fields Auto in Northfield to get upgrade

A 10-acre parcel in Northfield that totals nearly 500,000 square feet is getting a tune-up.

The Fields auto campus that stretches across 700-770 Frontage Road is coming due for a series of upgrades that Northfield trustees green-lighted during their March meeting.

Most notably, the dealership will expand its Volvo showroom and service department and raze the existing on-site car wash to make way for a new one.

Project plans submitted to the Village show the car wash will be replaced with an upgraded 5,420-square-foot, tunnel-style car wash and a 7,290-square-foot prep center.

The Volvo expansion will bring just upward of 1,100 new square feet to the current showroom and four new service bays that will take up 2,460 new square feet in the service center.

In a Village memo sent to Northfield’s Plan and Zoning Commission, Steve Gutierrez, Northfield’s community development director, said construction for the new facilities will begin this summer.

“The proposed expanded showroom space, extra service capacity and improved car wash/prep facilities will allow the petitioner’s dealerships to continue thriving, which is of great value to the community,” Gutierrez said in the memo.

Planners are also proposing to remove just over 50 parking spots across the site as part of the project, per the memo. But Northfield officials said the site still meets the village’s requirements for its classification despite the removal.

The project will not result in any “major changes” to the configuration of the Fields campus, and the proposed additions are not slated to impact the site as a whole, Gutierrez said.

In addition to approval from the Village Board, the Plan and Zoning Commission and the Architectural Committee voted to recommend approval of Fields’ plans.

During brief comments from the board during its March session, Trustee Andrew Juedes cited strong support for the project and lauded planners for the “minimal impact” the project will have on the nearby neighbors.

Trustee Charles Orth said the two-bay car wash will be an improvement for the dealership and the overall improvements to the site will be “a nice plus for (Fields) and the village.”

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