Lake Cook Road - Economics

Economics

In addition to traversing natural areas, Lake Cook Road also is known for traversing some of the most economically advanced areas in the Chicago metropolitan area. Two regional malls, Deer Park Town Center and Northbrook Court, can be found along the road, which contain immense clusters of retail development in their vicinities, including big-box stores, fashion stores, upscale restaurants, and services. An additional smaller cluster of retail development can be found in Buffalo Grove. In addition, near the intersection of Lake Cook Road and the Tri-State Tollway (near Northbrook, Riverwoods, and Deerfield) is a major cluster of office and industrial development which employs thousands of people (known as an edge city), which contains the corporate headquarters for Walgreens, Baxter International, and Underwriters Laboratories, which are all found along the road. Additional employers can be found within a few miles of the road, extending north–south along Milwaukee Avenue, the Tri-State Tollway, and Skokie Highway.

Because of the property tax structure of Cook County, where commercial properties are taxed at a higher rate than residential properites, a majority of the commercial properties along Lake-Cook road are on the north side of Lake-Cook road (which is in Lake County) and a majority of residential properties are located on the south side of Lake-Cook road (which is in Cook County).