Grayslake hopes sales tax rebates will ignite fairgrounds development

Grayslake village board members have agreed that incentives such as sales tax rebates should be offered to help spur development at the former county fairgrounds.

Village trustees Tuesday voted 6-0 in favor of a resolution to offer sales tax rebates to retail businesses new to Grayslake. The offer will be good for the next two years for businesses expected to create significant sales tax revenue while meeting village development standards.

Retailers that had worldwide revenue of more than $450 million in 2014 are not eligible for the sales tax rebates. Grayslake Mayor Rhett Taylor said that caveat was added to the resolution after the village board last month discussed the potential incentives to lure businesses to the old fairgrounds at routes 45 and 120.

"We can't restrict a particular business, but we can control how we distribute these things," Taylor said.

Trustee Bruce Bassett stressed the sales tax incentives would not negatively affect residents paying property tax.

Vacant since the Lake County Fair moved to Peterson and Midlothian roads six years ago, the old site had been pegged for an 807,000-square-foot plaza built by SKW Capital Management of Deerfield and suburban Cleveland-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp.

The Grayslake village board approved the project in 2007, capping three years of work.

But what was to be The Fairgrounds at Grayslake never started, in part because of the recession. Plans had called for the plaza to have architecture reflecting the village's 120-year history with old-fashioned lampposts, cupolas and dormers.

Before the village board passed the resolution, Taylor alluded to other suburbs using sales tax rebates to attract businesses. For example, Gurnee officials last month agreed to invest up to $1.4 million to prepare a site for a Portillo's to be built on Gurnee Mills property near Bass Pro Shops.

"We're trying to be very aggressive," Taylor said.

As part of the resolution, the Grayslake Business Partnership will issue a request for information from developers in an effort to gather options for a "high-quality project" on the former fairgrounds. The business group is a nonprofit, public-private economic development group with involvement from the village.

The resolution also states the village board will consider the use of other economic development incentives, including grants, on a case-by-case basis.