A lawn and garden equipment store that grossed $1.1 million in sales last year wants to relocate to larger space in Tinley Park by early winter if it can get a property tax break from Cook County.
The Village Board’s finance and economic development committee this week endorsed Countryside Lawn & Garden’s request for the tax incentive to move from Orland Park to 17511-15 Duvan Drive. The proposal now goes to the full board for consideration, but the county board has the final say.
Economic Development Director Ivan Baker told the committee that the tax break could reduce the property tax on the 18,000-square-foot building by 60 percent for 10 years and would “take a vacant building and put it back on the tax rolls.” The property qualifies for the tax break because it has been vacant for one year but less than two.
In a recent memo, Baker told Trustee David Seaman, the committee chairman, that the tax on the property is “currently double the rate of similar properties” in Will County, less than a mile away.
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Village Manager Dave Niemeyer said the site is within a special taxing district that provides substantial tax breaks but would be ineligible for those incentives if it received the county tax break.
Baker anticipates that sales volume at the new store would generate more than $13,000 in “annual new retail sales tax revenue for the village.” He said Countryside also would qualify for Tinley Park’s sales tax rebate program.
Countryside would occupy half the building with 25 percent occupied by The Mowing Depot, a landscaping and snow removal company. The remainder would be used by Circle W Properties, a real estate holding company, and Manion Services LLC, Circle W’s parent company.
After the meeting, Countryside general manager Tom Gifford said the building needs “some significant work. We’re currently taking bids from contractors.”
He predicted that the bigger store would increase sales to $1.5 million, and the store would eventually need “two to three times” as many employees as those at Countryside’s current Orland Park location, 15611 S. 70th Court. Gifford said the Orland Park store would close when the new one opens.
In a separate issue, the finance committee endorsed a similar property tax break for a proposed medical clinic at the northeast corner of Harlem Avenue and 168th Street that would have 20 full-time employees and eight part timers. The developer, 163rd Property LLC, said it’s more than doubling the size of the vacant former bank by adding 8,747 square feet to the building.
Sullivan is a freelance reporter.