 |
| Copyright 2014 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved. |
SAUK VILLAGE | Many in and around Sauk Village may not see the economic growth in terms of new job opportunities, many tend to see only what is in front of them, not what may be off the "beaten path". There is a diamond in the rough in Sauk Village and one they can be proud to boast about.
The LogistiCenter Business Park at Sauk Village is a 325-acre Class A business park, bounded by Illinois state highway 394 on the east, Cottage Grove Avenue on the west, Sauk Trail on the south and the CN on the north. Located within the heavy industrial Calumet Expressway Corridor, the park has immediate access to IL-394 and is within six miles of I-80/I-94, making it one of the areas most desirable location for serving the tri-state area of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.to the west of Illinois 394 and Sauk Trail began to grow wings as the economy was in full throttle until 2008.
Despite the economic downturn the opportunities are huge for Sauk Village and possible Industrial development.
What was once nothing but the field belonging to Vincent Sauter back in the 1840s is now home to WinPak a worldwide maker of the “K-Cups” one might use every day in the Keurig coffee maker and a warehouse facility for Behr Paint.
The equalized value of the land in 1994, when the Tax Increment Financing District was first begun was a messily $281,916 generating roughly about $30,000 in property taxes. Today the equalized value of the property is over $21,500,000 according to the office of the Cook County Clerk (the actually value is significantly higher) and generates $2,977,687.25 each year in property tax revenue for the village.
So where is all that property tax money going some may wonder? Well first there are those pesky bonds to pay! The bonds were taken out to make all of the necessary infrastructure improvements necessary to get this multi-million dollar project off the ground. Streets, water, sewer mains and of course rail access something many communities can envy. Sauk Village's port to the world is now open with the Canadian National Railway offering rail service to the LogistiCenter.
Wayne Steel was the first business to move into the outskirts of the property in the late 1990s. Former Mayor Roger Peckham inherited what seemed like a “boondoggle” when he became Mayor in 1997. By 2000, the Village had lost an inter-modal facility and things didn’t seem too rosy for the property the village was now owner and it began to weigh on Peckham's shoulders.
Peckham through marketing connections brought in Dermody Properties/DP Partners to develop the “LogistiCenter at Sauk Village” in March of 2005. Since that time, Dermody Properties/DP Partners has developed three facilities totaling 1,531,630 square feet. When completed, the 325-acre LogistiCenter Business Park will accommodate approximately 5,000,000 square feet of high-cube distribution and manufacturing space and attract between 500 and 1,500 jobs to the Southland Region.
LogistiCenter Business Park at Sauk Village offers the maximum in facility flexibility. Build-to-suit buildings are custom designed to meet the most demanding specifications of users. Dermody Properties/DP Partners is also developing single- or multi-tenant speculative buildings for immediate occupancy. All facilities in the park are built to Class A quality specifications, designed to protect the investment of tenants, the owner/developer, and the Village of Sauk Village.
The LogistiCenter had begun bringing in tax revenue to cover the cost of the bonds issued in 2002 for the initial improvements. Property tax revenues increased in 2005 to $422,778 far less than the Sauk Pointe Industrial Park which seemed to reach its pinnacle. By 2006, property tax revenue took off to $1,197,884 as additional development started up.
By the end of Roger Peckham’s term in office in 2009, property tax revenues that year $2,074,000. Peckham had some loose ends to tie up and negotiating on one of these was the Village’s long-time attorney Louis Vitullo. Peckham credits Vitullo for landing the WinPak project for Sauk Village before he left office. Peckham's creativity and vision for the LogisiCenter helped it take flight, during some good economic times despite the debt left behind, the financial picture of the LogistiCenter is very strong and revenues are more than adequate to cover the long-term debt service. Peckham, Vitullo and Mary Thomspon from Kane, McKenna and Associates, Inc and the others involved with the creation of the Tax Increment Financing District set it up for long-term success.
Lewis Towers came to office ill prepared for the enormous financial debacle that was unfolding in the world economy, let alone the small tiny microcosm of Sauk Village. With the reduction in state revenues and the shortfall of revenue anticipated from the Logisticenter Development, Towers faced a massive $1 million budget short-fall for the first time in the Village’s history.
Turnover in the Village’s finance department and within Towers’ administration exacerbated matters. Towers’ fell out of political favor quickly with this fellow running mates and his supporters turned on him and blamed him for the financial woe and mismanagement.
On May 4, 2011, Governor Patrick Quinn’s office announced a $1.6 million business investment package for WinPak to help fund the new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, which complimented the company’s $30 million investment for land, building and equipment.
. “Sauk Village is a good fit in these times as most communities are losing jobs, especially in the area of manufacturing. We welcome this opportunity to bring economic development to our community,” Towers said following Quinn’s announcement.
Plans were finalized by WinPak and they broke ground in September, 2011 on a multi-million dollar new facility. WinPak’s new facility would be a massive 267,000 square foot which is expandable to up to 600,000 square feet with rail access on 28 acres.
Lewis Towers was elated when WinPak was completed and the village then recovered monies from the company for the start up costs in 2012. Many businesses through the tough economic times have still looked at Sauk Village because of their desire to work with their developer and the businesses as well. The lack of business capital during the financial crisis made start up capital a bit tougher to get, but things have since begun to improve.
Since WinPak completed construction, there have been no new construction within the LogistiCenter, but the opportunities and economic incentives are available. Dawn Foods was considering locating in Sauk Village in early 2013, however, choose to move to Merrillville and built a brand new state-of-the-art facility but Sauk Village was definitely a contender for the multi-million dollar project.
Sauk Village has a long history of welcoming business opportunities. Mayor David Hanks and the Village of Sauk Village are playing host to the Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation’s Quarterly Forum on January 24th at the Sauk Village Hall.
The Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation is a not-for-profit which works with municipalities, the private sector, utilities and other groups to analyze regional economic development factors, business clusters, and development corridors to identify significant development opportunities and market those sites to the private sector.
Original material copyright 2014 Sauk Villager News; all rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment