Wheeling recommends tax incentive for industrial development at Wolf Run Estates
Wheeling is recommending approval of a property tax break that will pave the way for a new industrial building in the Wolf Run Estates neighborhood, just west of Chicago Executive Airport.
The village board unanimously agreed Monday that an affiliate of Panattoni Development, Inc. should get a 6b property tax incentive from Cook County.
The affiliate, PDC Chicago, Inc., wants to build a 162,000-square-foot speculative industrial building that may be occupied by light manufacturing, warehousing or product distribution companies. It already is under contract to buy various properties that combine to make an 8-acre tract off Wolf Road on Carol Avenue.
The company predicts acquiring the properties and constructing the building will cost about $13 million, officials said.
"We're in one of the hottest industrial markets we've ever seen," said John Melaniphy, Wheeling's economic development director.
But some residents of Wolf Run Estates, which was annexed into the village more than a decade ago, are wary of the development and further industrialization of the area.
"What we have before us is a monster of a project," resident Maryann Ligouri said. "It's a huge building."
The village has sought for years to spur industrial development in the area next to the airport. It created a tax-increment financing, or TIF, district in 2014 to encourage new investment.
A TIF district diverts increased tax revenues generated by new development into a fund for infrastructure and business improvement projects within the district. In this instance, TIF funds are particularly intended to help industrial developers build in the annexed area, which doesn't have water or sewer utilities.
PDC Chicago, Inc. has not yet asked the village for TIF funds and the village isn't anticipating that any will be necessary, unless the cost to install utilities becomes extraordinary, Melaniphy said.
The 6b property tax incentive still has to be approved by Cook County. If approved, the property would be assessed at a rate of 10 percent for 10 years, 15 percent in the 11th year and 20 percent in the 12th year. After that, it would return to the normal assessed rate of 25 percent.
Village officials said that even with the incentive, the yearly property taxes would be about $470,000 once the building is completed, compared to about $37,000 now being generated annually.
The company anticipates construction will begin in April and be finished in 2020. When fully occupied, between 75 and 125 people could be employed at the site, officials said.