New Business Takes Step Closer to Opening

CosmoProf overcame a major hurdle to opening a store in Deerfield Park Plaza when the Village Board of Trustees overturned a rejection of its proposed signage by the Appearance Review Commission at a meeting of the Trustees today at Village Hall.

Signage in the shopping center at 405 Lake Cook Road is supposed to be in red and therefore was not in keeping with the Village’s appearance code, according to the explanation Village Manger Kent Street gave for the rejection.

The color scheme for CosmoProf is blue and green, according to Sherwood Blitstein, one of the owners of Deerfield Park Plaza. CosmoProf is the nation’s largest supplier of beauty supplies, according to Marcy Wood, its representative at the meeting.

“When go on Lake Cook Road all you see is Dunkin Donuts and PNC Bank,” Blitstein said of the only shopping center tenants visible from the main arterial street leading to it. “As you go on you see Shell in yellow and Starbucks in green. Walgreens has its script red.”

The Board already approved a report from the Plan Commission recommending a modification to Deerfield Park Plaza’s special use permit allowing CosmoProf and Hadassah House to become tenants Nov. 18.

Despite approval from the Plan Commission, CosmoProf indicated it would not go forward with its Deerfield plans. “They will not enter into the lease if the sign is red,” Blitstein said. “This is not a spinning gizmo sign.” He also indicated the other tenants of the shopping center executed a petition saying they had no objection to the green and blue color scheme.

Though Board members expressed some reluctance to overturn a decision of the Appearance Review Commission, they did so on a 6-1 vote with Trustee William Seiden being the only dissenter.

“I have a lot of respect for what you (the Appearance Review Commission) do,” Trustee Alan Farkas said. “You can defer on a color and still have conformity. I would rather err in form of something that will allow a new business to come in.”

In other action, the Board gave final approval to plans to renovate the property at 360-380 Lake Cook Road to renovate the building which once housed Woodfire Restaurant.

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