More than six years after acquiring the tax-delinquent property at 9528-40 Ogden Ave. from Cook County, the Village of Brookfield could soon ink an agreement to develop it.
Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral last week said the village board could consider a draft redevelopment agreement for the property as early as next month. Since May, the commercial real estate firm Korman/Lederer and Associates has been working to hammer out an agreement with a fast-food franchise to take over the site.
A deal, Sbiral indicated, was imminent. He declined to name the franchise the real estate firm was working with.
“I’d like to have this on a [village board] meeting agenda in January,” Sbiral said after the annual meeting of the Ogden Avenue TIF joint review board on Dec. 15. The property is part of the Ogden Avenue TIF (tax increment financing) district and is eligible to receive TIF funds to develop the site.
Sbiral said a draft redevelopment agreement, which would include any request for TIF assistance, might be forthcoming in January. Such an agreement could be reviewed by the village board’s Committee of the Whole or referred to another group, such as the Plan Commission.
Calls to Harlan Korman, principal for the real estate firm negotiating the deal, were not returned.
Should a successful new development come to fruition at the former Lucas Tire site, Sbiral said the village could seek to remove it from the TIF district so it can start contributing to taxing districts immediately.
Once that happens, the village could try to add an underperforming property to the TIF district. While no specific properties were discussed at the joint review meeting last week, one obvious candidate would be the former Brookfield Moose property at 4020 DuBois Blvd., which is immediately north of the TIF district.
The Moose property was not included in the TIF district when the district was created in 2008. At the time, that property was slated to become a townhome development.
Since then, Fifth-Third Bank has foreclosed and owns the property. Purchased by its previous owner in 2006 for $1.35 million, the property most recently was listed at just $425,000.
Two full years into its existence, the Ogden Avenue TIF District generated $269,244 in property taxes in 2009, available for various uses within the TIF district, including incentives for developers. By the end of 2010, the TIF district is expected to hold more than $400,000.
