News
Suburban Incentives Kick-Start Activity
May 17, 2012
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| The 167k SF 2001 Mt. Prospect in Des Plaines had been vacant for more than four years, a typical example of a property vacated by a former light industrial user that moved overseas and kept empty by the recession. Recently office supply company Warehouse Direct leased it after the city of Des Plaines approved a Class 6b property tax incentive, the city's first since the incentive was revised, thereby slashing the property tax assessment. "It was just the right incentive at the right time," says Cobalt Partners director Bryan Moreland, whose company owns the property (he's pictured in front of the building with Des Plaines City Manager Michael Bartholomew and attorney Brian Liston, who handled the legal nitty-gritty). "Without the city's foresight on this matter, the building would still be empty, contributing nothing to the city's tax rolls." |
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| Another example of recent incentivizing in the suburbs involves the redevelopment of 820 Madison in Oak Park, which recently overcame a major hurdle in winning $12M in tax credits from the Illinois Housing Development Authority. A solidly built structure nearly a century old, its last use was as a Comcast office, but the cable company left four years ago. Interfaith Housing Development Corp plans to make it into 51 units of affordable housing. Interfaith COO Perry Vietti tells us that the organization is on track to begin construction in the fall. "The development will serve low-income persons who primarily live in Oak Park while also contributing to the revitalization of this portion of Madison Street," he says. |
