After months of limbo and a detour through Vatican bureaucracy, the former Our Lady of the Brook church property in Northbrook is officially headed for a second act as an age-restricted townhome community.
Pulte Group is set to develop the nearly 12-acre site at 3700 Dundee Road as The Reserve at the Brook, a 55-and-older community that revives a project the village had already signed off on. The sale finally moved once church officials in Rome gave their blessing, clearing a snag that had stalled an earlier transfer.
Sale timeline and village sign off
According to Crain's Chicago Business, Venture 1 OLB LLC recorded its purchase of the roughly 12-acre Our Lady of the Brook property on Jan. 7, 2026, for $7 million, then turned around and sold it to Pulte Group about a week later. The sale to Pulte was recorded roughly eight days after Venture 1's initial filing, the outlet reports.
Venture 1's principals told the paper that the multi-year timeline needed to build the 53-unit project no longer fit their business plans, which helps explain the quick flip.
Official action in Northbrook
The Village of Northbrook Board made things official on Jan. 13, when it voted to transfer a previously approved development agreement to Pulte Home Company, according to the village's meeting summary.
That move hands Pulte the municipal entitlements for the planned 53-unit, age-restricted development at 3700 Dundee Road and removes a key local barrier for the project to move forward.
What Pulte is proposing
According to Pulte, The Reserve at the Brook is planned as an enclave of single-family attached homes for buyers 55 and older, with first-floor owner suites and pricing that starts in the upper $700s.
The builder's materials describe 53 low-maintenance townhomes and play up the location's access to Metra, golf and shopping. The community page does not list a firm construction timetable, so for now interested buyers are being asked to join an interest list and wait for the next shoe to drop.
Why the transfer was delayed
Crain's Chicago Business reports that the closing was slowed by an administrative review in Rome, since the Archdiocese requires sales of church property to be cleared with Vatican officials.
Venture 1 filed a lawsuit in November seeking to break the logjam, the outlet notes, while the archdiocese's chief capital assets officer told the paper that Vatican approval is simply part of the process. Once that step was completed, the title transfer and the handoff from Venture 1 to Pulte moved ahead.
What this means locally
For neighbors who objected to an earlier, larger concept for the site, Pulte's plan effectively brings back the smaller, age-restricted version that had already earned village approval.
Pulte says it intends to build the previously approved planned development and is collecting interest-list signups, but has not released a construction schedule. Residents and prospective buyers can expect more detailed timelines and site activity as the project shifts from marketing into pre-construction.
Parish background
The Our Lady of the Brook worship center at 3700 Dundee Road is closed, and the parish now operates jointly with St. Norbert, according to the combined parish website.
That consolidation, along with the archdiocese's relegation process for church properties, helped put the site on the market and set off the lengthy review that slowed the earlier sale.
