The Elgin City Council this week approved without debate an additional $1.9 million in tax and other incentives for a downtown condo developer but tabled a vote on a Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club annexation proposal.
The additional tax and public improvement incentives for RSC & Associates’ Fountain Square development passed 5-1 Wednesday with council member Brenda Rodgers the only opposition. The package is in addition to the $9.4 million in tax and other incentives the council approved in 2004 for the project, which has 196 condominiums, 16 town homes and duplexes, and 18,000 square feet of commercial space on Grove Avenue just south of Chicago Street.
Council members justified the additional incentives by explaining that the Chicago firm had incurred $7 million in extra costs for demolition and cleanup of a former department store and relocation of a cell phone company’s antenna.
“The developers certainly made their case,” said council member Tom Sandor.
He had voted against the new incentives in the past but said the city did not want to jeopardize the project, a key element of downtown revitalization, after RSC indicated it might have difficulty completing it.
The cost of the project is now more than $30 million. The incentives will come in the form of $610,000 in sewer work the city will do and another $1.3 million in incremental tax sharing.
Planned for Randall and Bowes Roads on the city’s southwest side, the Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam’s Club annexation proposal will be discussed at the council’s March 8 meeting.
