City officials have agreed to pay for a public plaza downtown in an effort to entice an anchor tenant to locate there.
The City Council voted 8-1 Monday night to change its agreement with the developer, Jim Zakos of Zakos & Associates-Mid America Real Estate Corp., and pay for the plaza.
Officials estimated it would cost $100,000.
Zakos had said he would pay for the 6,000-square-foot plaza to be at York and Schiller Streets.
But later he asked the city to pay for the plaza, saying the proposed major tenant, Walgreen`s, is insisting on a $2-a-square-foot rebate on its occupancy costs. The company is considering putting a 13,000-square-foot store in the North Schiller block.
Ald. Janice Vanek (2nd), one of those voting in favor of the city paying for the plaza, said that ”in return for this incentive, we can get this (project) going.”
But the city held firm in opposing Walgreen`s request to put up a pylon sign. The City Council approved a 10-by-12-foot monument sign for Palmer and Schiller Streets.
