Schaumburg poised to approve TIF district Tuesday to help modernize aging industrial park

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday will consider the creation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district to help fund public improvements and attract new private investment to the aging 573-acre Centex industrial park near the village’s southwest corner.

A TIF district, which takes a portion of the property taxes normally received by the area’s local governments, operates for 23 years unless the public improvements it funds can be paid off earlier.

A few of the business owners in the industrial park attended a public hearing May 14 seeking clarification of whether a TIF district would affect their own property rights and business operations, Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said.

But a TIF district’s primary impact is on the immediate property tax receipts of local governments like school, park and library districts. The intended goal is to ultimately increase these tax revenues by raising the property values they’re based on, he added.

“We navigated through some of the facts about TIF districts,” Frank said of the public hearing. “It was a good conversation. Educational.”

The Centex park lies just north of Schaumburg Regional Airport and is bisected by the Elgin-O’Hare Tollway. The area is bordered by Wise Road to the north, Irving Park Road to the south, Rodenburg Road to the west and Mitchell Boulevard to the east.

The goal is not to change the Centex industrial park’s identity, but to make it as up to date for current and future businesses as other sites in the region, Frank said.

Neighboring Elk Grove Village’s 6-square-mile industrial park — the largest in the nation — wouldn’t be experiencing its current success without similar pursuit of public-private partnerships, Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said.

Because of its combination of location, modern infrastructure and a supportive local government, demand for some areas of the Elk Grove industrial park has driven land prices there to $2 million an acre, he added.

Johnson said he believes Schaumburg’s efforts to revitalize its industrial park will make the whole region even stronger.

Specific improvements Schaumburg officials are envisioning for the Centex industrial park involve the elimination of potential flooding areas and improvement of its utilities, infrastructure and parking capacity.

Six representatives among the 16 affected taxing bodies voted last month to recommend creation of the TIF district after hearing a presentation on the proposal.

Consultants from Chicago-based S.B. Friedman Development Advisors reported the nearly 60-year-old industrial park legally is eligible for a TIF district on the basis of deterioration, inadequate utilities, the presence of structures below minimum code, and prior lack of community planning.

Besides the village itself, other local governments that would be affected by the TIF district are Cook and DuPage counties; Bloomingdale and Schaumburg townships; College of DuPage and Harper College; school districts 12, 20, 54, 108 and 211; the Roselle and Schaumburg park districts; and the Roselle and Schaumburg Township library districts.