The Village Board is set to move another step closer to creating an $18 million tax incentive for developers hoping to revitalize the nearly empty Orland Park Place mall.
Officials plan to establish a Joint Review Board at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting and set a date for an October public hearing on a proposed tax increment financing district for the property at 151st Street and La Grange Road.
The plan calls for the village to assist the property owner in borrowing up to $18 million by issuing general obligation bonds to pay for improvements to the shopping center, which has been called a “14-year failure” by its management.
The TIF designation would mean that real estate and sales taxes generated from the mall would be frozen at current levels. Any increased revenue derived from the redevelopment would be rebated to pay off the bond debt.
Representatives of all taxing bodies that stand to lose future increased taxes from the redevelopment will be able to play a part in the planning of the TIF agreement through the Joint Review Board, she said. Officials from High School District 230 and Orland School District 135, the two taxing districts with the most to lose, have been generally supportive, she said.
The community has also been receptive to the idea of revitalizing the ailing mall, which is 90 percent vacant, she said.
Developers tentatively plan to consolidate the mall’s 70 smaller retail spaces into 20 larger stores and convert it into a discount mall.
Currently the retail center, which opened in 1981 just south of the successful Orland Square mall and is anchored by a Sportmart and a Spiegel store, contributes about $1.6 million in real estate taxes and $500,000 in sales tax revenue, said Hugh Robinson of the mall’s management firm, Tri-Land Properties Inc. of Westchester.
