As Mayor Jim Dodge’s administration plans to move forward with an Orland Park downtown development project, the Village Board voted Monday to eliminate the Main Street Triangle tax increment financing district that has struggled since it was put in place in 2004.
Still in place is a TIF with similar boundaries that was instituted under former Mayor Keith Pekau last year. The first tenant in the planned 140,000-square-foot development, Weber Grill, is set to open at the southwest corner of LaGrange and 142nd Street next year.
By discontinuing the Triangle TIF district four years before its scheduled expiration, the village hopes to foster an improved relationship with Elementary School District 135 and High School District 230, which will receive a combined $2.5 million in the TIF’s revenue.
In a TIF district, property taxes for all government bodies are frozen at levels at the time the TIF is created and any increase due to higher property values, the increment, is used to pay for improvements or incentives. TIF districts typically expire after 23 years but can be extended to up to 35 years.
A former agreement with the school districts promised extra funds throughout the Main Street Triangle TIF’s lifetime, but they were not generated and it strained the relationship between the village and the districts, according to Village Manager George Koczwara.
“(This is) just a fresh start so we can work cooperatively with the school districts on this and future development,” Koczwara said. “We share the same constituencies, the village and the districts, so it’s in all of our best interests to maintain good relationships for the betterment of the community.”
More Top Picks How To Reduce Eye Strain Working From Home All Day
Koczwara said village officials are reconsidering plans for the downtown project made under Pekau’s leadership with developer Edwards Realty, which declined to comment on the board’s unanimous vote to discontinue the TIF.
“There were a lot of commitments that were made in the previous administration where if all of those panned out, we were on a glide path to $271 million in debt,” Koczwara said. “So we’re evaluating every previous commitment to see how we can reduce the TIF debt.”
Edwards and the village previously anticipated total redevelopment costs of about $87 million, with the developer able to recoup up to $70 million through the TIF and other funding sources.
Edwards proposed reconfiguring Crescent Park Circle, which wraps around Crescent Park, and leaving Jefferson Avenue north of 142nd closed to vehicles and serve as a pedestrian strip.
The village owns seven properties spread over nine acres of what’s known as the Main Street Triangle, northwest of LaGrange Road and 143rd Street.
Edwards Realty proposed more than 140,000 square feet of commercial and office space and a larger park in the center of the site.
The development was designed to be situated around the Ninety7Fifty on the Park apartments, University of Chicago Medicine Center for Advanced Care, a parking garage and the 143rd Street Metra station.