As far as Tinley Park officials are concerned, one major roadblock to building a convention center has been removed.
Trustee Pat Rea said a study done by R.V. Norene and Associates of Glenview shows tax revenue produced by a development composed of a hotel and convention center, commercial area and residential development would cover any estimated shortfall generated by the center.
“The fully developed site . . . will produce sufficient revenues to cover the principal and interest payments (on the center) and leave a reserve to cover the maximum projected losses every single year for 17 years,” Rea said.
Tinley Park hopes to put the development in a tax increment financing district north of Interstate Highway 80 and east of Harlem Avenue. Preliminary plans for the project were unveiled at a recent Plan Commission meeting.
Construction costs of the convention center are estimated at $5 million.
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A TIF district freezes the assessed value of the property at that existing when the TIF was created. Improvements increase the assessed value and thus the property taxes, but those increase revenues are used to pay for infrastructure and other renovations.
An earlier study of the feasibility of a convention center noted it could sustain revenue shortfalls of $100,000 to $300,000 annually.
A study on the feasibility of a full-service hotel at that location is expected to be finished in a few weeks, according to Rea.
That report will be paid for by Gerald Stillman of Mid-Continent Builders Inc., the village’s first choice to build the complex, Rea said.
Trustees have given him a year-end deadline to prove he can secure financing for the hotel.