Des Plaines approves tax incentive for expansion at Wheels Inc.

One of Des Plaines' largest employers is in line for a property tax break as it embarks on a $13.4 million expansion and renovation.

Aldermen approved the tax incentive this week for Wheels Inc., a fleet management company with more than 725 employees, to keeps its global headquarters in the city. The company's plans include adding 18,000 square feet of office space and substantially upgrading three aging office buildings on the approximately 16-acre campus south of the intersection of Rand and Ballard roads.

The company has added 100 new employees in the past year and a half and expects to add another 50 jobs over the next decade.

The type of tax break that Des Plaines offered Wheels Inc. is called a class 7b tax incentive. It allows areas of commercial property that are improved or developed to be assessed at 10 percent for 10 years, 15 percent in the 11th year and 20 percent the 12th year. The property then returns to being assessed at 25 percent.

"Without the incentive the real possibility exists that (the company) will relocate its global headquarters to another location and in the process the city of Des Plaines and other taxing bodies will lose those millions of tax dollars," attorneys for the company told city officials in its application for the tax incentive.

For the company to get final approval, the tax incentive also must be approved by county officials.

"It's not every day that we have someone in growth mode," said Patrick Ainsworth, the city's economic development coordinator, noting that the city is fully built out.

Wheels Inc. was founded in 1939 and has had its headquarters in Des Plaines since 1984. It is the largest privately-held fleet management company in North America, with more than 300,000 vehicles under management.