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player ready...Oak Lawn village officials are questioning projected Target sales figures for a proposed store and whether the company really needs a $4.7 million incentive from the village to pay for a new store parking lot on 95th Street.
Plans had called for the village to sell $4.7 million in bonds to pay for construction of the parking lot on Keeler Avenue immediately north of the new store. In addition, a special service area was to be established so a .5 percent sales tax on all goods sold at Target could then be used to pay off those bonds over 30 years.
Target officials had told the village that the parking lot would be paid for entirely from that special service area tax.
Village President David Heilmann isn’t so sure. Heilmann asked at a recent Village Board meeting that a resolution establishing the special service area be postponed until Sept. 13 so he can receive updated revenue projections from the company. Heilmann said he had talked with a company representative who said revenues would be less than first thought because the store would be about 10,000 square feet smaller than originally proposed.
The company had projected sales of about $41 million, generating about $750,000 annual sales tax revenue for the village. Using those figures, the village agreed to the $4.7 million incentive.
But Heilmann said the company figures indicate that it will be several years before the store reaches $41 million in sales. He said he had also used Target’s projected revenue figures for the first few years and figured that the special service area tax would not completely pay the note for the parking lot bonds.
“We were told again and again that it would pay for itself. It won’t pay for itself,” he said.
Heilmann said he wants to continue discussions with Target but won’t be comfortable approving the special service area until he knows the village has the latest revenue projections.
A Target spokeswoman said the company is standing by the figures it has given the village.