Schaumburg mulls tax break for landscape firm

Schaumburg is preparing to authorize another Cook County property tax incentive package, this time for a relocating landscape and snow removal business, in what might be evidence that local commercial real estate slowly is recovering from the depths of the recession.

“I think we’ll be seeing more and more of these,” Schaumburg Economic Development Coordinator Matt Frank said.

The latest application for the county administered Class 6B incentive comes from Dallas-based Murphy Building Corp., which intends to lease a 1,600-square-foot industrial park building to the landscaping firm RB Enterprises USA.

The business will be consolidating 40 employees from locations in Schaumburg and DuPage County to 1200 Tower Road, and hiring up to 10 more employees over the next two years.

A Class 6B incentive works by lowering the level of assessment on the property from 25 percent to 10 percent for 10 years, effectively reducing property taxes by about 60 percent during that period.

It is reserved exclusively for industrial, manufacturing or warehouse operations that fill a space that has been vacant after two years on the sale or leasing markets.

The level of assessment gradually rises again during the 11th and 12th years of the incentive before returning to normal.

Brian Murphy, the president of Murphy Building Corp., said his company owns a few commercial properties in Schaumburg, but that the one at 1200 Tower has been the most problematic to keep occupied during the economic downturn.

Murphy said there was no question that his wait for a tenant would have gone on even longer were it not for the tax incentive.

“It allows (the agreement with RB Enterprises) to happen,” he said.

Representatives of RB Enterprises USA could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Murphy Building Corp.’s request was recommended by the Schaumburg Village Board’s Finance, Legal and General Government Committee on Monday and will be considered by the full board next Tuesday.

Though the village must sign off on the incentive deal, it ultimately is approved and administered by Cook County. The county already has approved more than 50 of the Class 6B incentives in Schaumburg over the past decade, one of the most recent of which cleared the way for the expansion of Gonnella Baking Co.’s Wiley Road facility.