Amid the heat and August sun beating down on hot, unused impervious parking lot surfaces at Northbrook Court, Northbrook village trustees hope to spotlight the shopping mall for rapid redevelopment.
Last April 25, Northbrook Village President Kathryn L. Ciesla said, “There are almost 5,000 parking spaces at the current Northbrook Court.
“So I do have to say without question, it will be nice to put in some green elements and eliminate that concrete jungle.”
Since then, a new tax increment financing district (TIF) has been proposed as a method to help fund mall redevelopment with a 1 % tax added to a shopper’s Northbrook Court district retail mall receipt.
A TIF is an often controversial financing method used for redevelopment of geographic boundary areas identified for economic assistance. TIFs can last up to 23 years.
For example, The Glen TIF was established in 1998 to redevelop the former Naval Air Station site in Glenview. The Glen TIF sunsetted with a Dec. 31, 2021 closure.
Northbrook trustees on Aug. 22 held a public hearing about creating the TIF for 1515 Lake Cook Road (Northbrook Court) plus approval of redevelopment.
Another required public hearing was held that Tuesday night about launching a business district that would need the retail sales tax revenue from Northbrook Court business district shoppers.
Ciesla said on Aug. 22 the Northbrook Court project is, “so important.”
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Required public notice was given to area Northbrook Court neighbors about the proposed business district, but many boardroom audience chairs on Aug. 22 were empty. All taxpayers within the boundaries of the proposed business district were notified of the Aug. 22 public hearing by certified mail and newspaper legal advertising, according to the village.
The hearings were opened and closed with little fanfare. One Northbrook resident who does not live near Northbrook Court approached the podium to ask about proposed district boundaries relating to nearby residential.
On Aug. 29 the Board of Trustees is holding a 7:30 p.m. special meeting and joint public hearing with the village’s Plan Commission to streamline hearings for Northbrook Court.
The proposed TIF covers the entire 100 plus acre Northbrook Court property. Northbrook Court opened in 1976 and an April 25 village memo noted that in the past decade, customer foot traffic has declined.
According to an Aug. 22 village memo from Northbrook Village Manager Cara Pavlicek, “The developer (Brookfield Properties) identified a financial ‘gap’ of assistance needed to enable the commencement of construction of the project due to the age and condition of the existing mall property and existing infrastructure and the necessary cost of new quality materials.”
Last May’s predevelopment agreement with the village indicated that Brookfield Properties determined a financial gap of $90 million in the developer’s reconstruction estimate of $750 million.
“Per the developer, the gap is especially large in the initial phase of construction” the Aug. 22 memo said.
That same memo also described a TIF as, “a valuable economic development tool that helps local governments support, encourage and accelerate redevelopment and public improvement projects in a designated area of the community which can be classified as rundown or blighted.”
According to village documents, “designation is considered an important economic development tool which allows the village to collect up to 1 % additional retail sales tax from sales within the business district to fund projects that the village determines will benefit the district.”
The additional 1 % sales tax could last up to 23 years, but could stop sooner at the village’s discretion.
The funds would be paid by the businesses to the state and returned to the village into a separate business district tax allocation fund with disbursement to Northbrook Court developers.
A Joint Review Board (JRB) met last July after reviewing the proposed TIF district and was unanimously in favor of the idea. JRB members included the village, Cook County, Glenbrook High School District 225, Northbrook School District 28, Northfield Township and the Northbrook Park District.
Last April 25, Brookfield Properties revealed drawings of how Northbrook Court’s estimated 100 acres could evolve over the next decade.
Brookfield Properties, which has represented the mall since 1995, had asked for multiple extensions on its redevelopment pitch, using COVID-19 pandemic challenges among reasons.
In 2019, the village board began a redevelopment and economic incentive agreement with Brookfield Properties as a public-private partnership, approving the redevelopment of nearly 18 acres only on the property’s west side. The 2019 TIF for those mall parcels is described here at https://www.northbrook.il.us/841/Tax-Increment-Finance-TIF-Districts.
On May 23, the board overwhelmingly approved the predevelopment agreement to spur the whole site. Northbrook Court hosted two public open houses on June 17 and June 13 at the mall to listen to neighbors and mall patrons.
On Aug. 22, village trustees heard from Michio Murakishi of Chicago, a consultant they hired May 23 for $250 an hour for a consulting contract not to exceed $37,500.
Murakishi provided a report which identified Northbrook Court to be eligible for a TIF based on obsolescence criteria and estimated that TIF eligible redevelopment costs would be $155 million.
Trustees may consider an ordinance to establish the business district at the Sept. 26 board meeting, along with related Northbrook Court directives.
Northbrook Village Trustee Robert P. Israel, chair of the board’s Administration and Finance Committee, said at the dais about Northbrook Court progress, “It’s exciting.
“Whatever we can do to keep things moving and progressing for Northbrook Court,” Israel said, ” . . . we appreciate it.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.