Rosemont closes on $12.7 million purchase of last undeveloped property in town
Rosemont has closed on its $12.7 million purchase of the last major undeveloped piece of land in town, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The vacant 19 acres - tucked in between the Jane Addams Tollway, O'Hare International Airport and Mannheim Road - has long been pursued for acquisition and redevelopment by village officials.
Property owner Development Resources Inc. agreed to a $12,750,000 purchase price in August, and the contract was finalized in recent weeks.
Village officials have been mum about plans for the site - once a former Ramada hotel complex and par-3 golf course. But since news of the village's purchase was announced, Mayor Brad Stephens confirmed he's received some interest from developers.
Among the proposals that have come and gone over the decades: a multi-tower office complex, retail area, Hollywood-type movie studio, and truck terminal site.
To prep the property for whatever is to come, village officials are considering whether to parcel out the site from a bigger tax increment financing district they set up in 2014, and put the land in a new TIF of its own. That would restart the 23-year clock, under state law, where property taxes collected above a certain level would be diverted to pay for infrastructure improvements.
Under one plan, the 19-acre site would be pulled out of the old TIF with the Allstate Arena parking lot and former light industrial parcels to the north that were once envisioned for a new village public safety department headquarters. The northwest corner of Mannheim and Higgins roads, where a new Portillo's is being built, would remain in the old TIF.
But Stephens said the process is complicated, and it's still under review.