Infighting on the Harvey City Council has for now cost the city another chance to rid itself of the eyesore known as the Dixie Square Mall.
The Urban City Development of Chicago had proposed redeveloping the land by housing the dilapidated structure with a multiscreen theater, shopping center and $100,000-$150,000 condominiums. Urban City promised to use about 80 percent minority contractors on the project in a city with a predominantly minority population, and was reportedly poised to enter a 120-day exclusive agreement with the city.
But at a Harvey City Council meeting Monday night, that plan went down to defeat because the council was deadlocked: Ald. Eric Kellogg (5th), Daryl Crudup (3rd) and John Arrington (2nd) opposed it, while Ald. Frank Piekarski (1st), Ald. Donald Whitted (4th) and Mayor Nick Graves supported it. Ald. Ann Samson (6th) was absent.
The next morning, Urban City Development withdrew its proposal. And on Wednesday, the divided city government continued bickering over the issue.
“It would be an economic boost to the city,” Graves said. “These people are just playing politics to stop me. It’s really a shame. . . . I believe Urban City’s plan is very viable. They have the track record. They have the backing.”
Graves said another company–B&B Consultants Inc. of Chicago–came to see him about three months ago, shortly after Urban City pitched its plan. The mayor said he told the firm’s officials to return when they had a firm proposal of their own.
“One thing about dealing with people: You learn to read them,” Graves said. “They left and I haven’t heard from them again.”
Graves said Crudup came into the meeting Monday night claiming to have a last-minute proposal from B&B, “which is false.”
Harvey planning director Brenda Thompson agreed. “Not one time did B&B come to the Planning Department or the mayor to present anything,” she said.
Crudup could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but Kellogg and Arrington defended their rejection of the 120-day agreement with Urban City.
“To give them an exclusive 120-day option would limit the city. For four months, we wouldn’t be able to entertain any other options,” Kellogg said. “There was another company out there that had presented another plan and was waiting for Ald. Arrington to convene another Economic Development Committee meeting.”
Kellogg denied his actions were motivated to hurt Graves politically.
“It doesn’t matter who brings the proposal to remove that blight,” Kellogg said. “Whoever brings the project, we’re all going to get credit for it. . . . I’m trying to work in concert with the mayor.”
Arrington said Urban City’s proposal was a good one, and he would support the 120-day agreement if B&B’s proposal proves unacceptable to the council.
Supporters say B&B’s proposal calls for a mixed retail, commercial and residential development that would include a large anchor store and single-family homes and townhouses.
Referring to what happened Monday night, Arrington said, “If, in fact, it made the mayor look bad, it’s just another time he cut some deal with these developers without bringing it to the City Council, and now he can’t deliver.”
Steve Qualkinbush, a principal at Urban City Development, declined to comment Wednesday, and officials at Chicago-based B&B Consultants Inc. could not be reached for comment.
The Dixie Square Mall, built in 1966, has been crumbling and decaying since its doors were sealed in 1979. Last September, the Harvey City Council narrowly rejected a proposal by the Cook County Department of Planning to apply for federal funds to redevelop the 57-acre mall site.
Under the county’s plan, a minimum of 300 single-family homes–51 percent for those with low to medium incomes–would have been built on the site and surrounding land.
Harvey resident Shirley Johnson, 22, who works in a real estate office, said the council was right to reject the 120-day agreement with Urban City.
“The decision wasn’t, “We won’t go with the project,’ just that they wouldn’t go with the 120-day exclusive agreement,” Johnson said. “If Dixie Square is as valuable as everyone says, then there will be other offers.”
Other city residents disagreed. Joe Boyd, 71, a retired machinist supervisor who jousted verbally with Kellogg at the council meeting, said he was “sick of these people”–referring to aldermen opposed to the mayor.
Eraina Dunn, executive director of the Human Action Community Organization, a grass-roots citizens advocacy group in Harvey, called on city residents to meet at Dixie Square Mall from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday for a petition-signing rally in support of the Urban City plan, and to protest the City Council’s action.
“We want every able-bodied person to come out and show their support. It’s politics. We must end this. I am sick of it,” said Dunn, who is also the city’s director of human resources and development. “We want them (Urban City Development) to know we’re going to put pressure on these aldermen and not let them run companies out of town.”
“Give them the 120 days,” Dunn said. “We like the project.”
