Local News

Kedzie Gateway TIF approved by Homewood board

The Kedzie Gateway TIF is now an official TIF district after approval from the Homewood Board of Trustees at its Oct. 12 meeting.

The district, primarily located primarily on 183rd Street between Kimball Avenue and Robin Lane, will use one of the village’s financial tools to “alleviate conditions that deter private investment in the area,” according to a village document.

The village sees the intersection of 183rd Street and Kedzie Avenue as a key gateway into the village, according to village officials. The 33 acres consists of 28 parcels of land and is home to the former Brunswick Zone bowling alley, a property the village would like redeveloped.

The approval comes after a joint review board, which consists of representatives from each of the taxing districts within the boundaries of the new district, gave it greenlight on Sept. 1. On Sept. 28, the village held a public hearing where Bob Rychlicki, executive vice president of Kane, McKenna and Associates, the consulting firm the village hired to manage TIF district development, gave a presentation.

During the presentation, he said the area qualified as a conservation area. That means it isn’t blighted but could head in that direction if not for the TIF designation, according to Rychlicki. About 70% of buildings in the district are more than 35 years old and the area meets five of 13 requirements in state law to qualify as a TIF district, he said.

TIF districts are one tool the village has to compete for business against areas that have lower property taxes. They generate revenue for development in the district by freezing the equalized assessed value (EAV) of properties in the district. At the time a TIF is established, taxing agencies within the boundaries continue to receive property tax revenue based on the EAV. The taxes generated in excess of the base EAV can be reinvested into business properties or into the area’s infrastructure.

The based EAV of the properties in the district will be nearly $13.3 million.

In other news, since no alternative bids were received for the redevelopment of the former site of Bogart’s Charhouse, the village will consider entering into a real estate sale contract with a proposed developer, Homewood Brewing Company, according to Chris Cummings, village attorney.

The Homewood Brewing Company submitted a letter of intent to purchase the property and to develop a single-story brewery and restaurant. The village has said it was prepared to move forward with this proposal but was required to give other interested parties a chance to submit alternate proposals.

Cummings said the real estate sale contract would be “contingent on the village and the developer entering into a redevelopment agreement. The redevelopment agreement would obligate the purchaser to build the project as proposed.”

The sales contract is tentatively scheduled for the Oct. 26 village board meeting and the redevelopment agreement is tentatively scheduled to appear before the board on Nov. 9

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