With construction already underway on a retail center at 159th Street and LaGrange Road, Orland Park Village Board members voted to provide Amazon with a nearly $1.5 million property tax break on the development, courtesy of Cook County.
While Mayor Jim Dodge said Cook County’s tax system makes such an incentive necessary, board members William Healy and Cynthia Katsenes raised concerns about fairness, noting many smaller businesses are not provided with such benefits.
If the County Board approves Amazon’s application, the new retail center will receive a Class 7b property incentive, which is reserved for commercial projects costing more than $2 million, according to Cook County. The property would be assessed at a rate of 10% for 10 years, 15% for the 11th year and 20% for the 12th year, before returning to the standard 25% assessment rate for its 13th year.
In its application, Amazon estimated a $130 million redevelopment cost for the property, which includes demolishing the former Petey’s II restaurant and constructing a nearly 230,000-square-foot retail building and 844-space parking area. Amazon also plans to develop five outlots.
“They’re getting a tax break, and we have a lot of businesses that have been here that aren’t,” Katsenes said about Amazon during the Sept. 9 board meeting. “In my opinion, it just doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem right.”
Katsenes noted Amazon holds the top position on the Fortune 500 list, “while we have little businesses in town that we don’t give a break to.” She and Healy were the only two board members who in January voted against the Amazon development coming to the southwest corner of 159th Street and LaGrange Road.
“They came here wanting to come to Orland Park because of what other businesses and people living here made the community,” Katsenes said.
But Mayor Jim Dodge said Thursday those comments were misleading, with as many as 70 businesses in the village benefiting from a similar incentive as granted to Amazon.
“We’ve done this for small businesses, we’ve done this for large businesses, and the simple reality of where we are and the need to make these kind of adjustments to get anything done — that is our reality,” Dodge said. “Businesses could go a couple miles west in Homer Glen, a couple of miles south into Mokena or Frankfort, and cut their property tax bills in half.”
More Top Picks Best Sauerkraut Making Kits For Beginners
Village officials presented an example of these disparities during the board meeting, comparing property taxes for Costco stores in Orland Park and Naperville. The store on 159th Street, near the future Amazon retail center, paid nearly $830,000 in taxes for 2024, while the Ogden Avenue store in Naperville paid about $420,000.
Dodge and other board members also pointed out that despite the incentive, contributions to local taxing bodies will be much larger than they were when the parcel was vacant. Property owners paid $47,000 in taxes for 2024, with Amazon expected to pay $992,000 in taxes if the incentive is granted, according to the village.
Without the tax incentive, the village said Amazon would pay nearly $2.5 million in taxes.
“I think we do give a lot of incentives to a lot of businesses, and I just think this is leveling the playing field for Amazon,” board member John Lawler said. “They are a big corporation, they have a lot of money, but at the end of the day they do provide a lot of jobs. They are going to bring a lot of taxes.”