Developer to spend $30 million on new industrial buildings in Des Plaines
A real estate developer intends to spend $30 million to raze three unused or underused industrial buildings and construct three new ones in central Des Plaines.
Georgia-based Seefried Industrial Properties plans to put up the buildings on the north and south sides of Algonquin Road east of Mount Prospect Road, in the 3rd Ward.
The redevelopments will bring a “much-needed upgrade” to the area, 3rd Ward Alderman Sean Oskerka said during Monday’s city council meeting.
“It’s great that they’re putting all that money in over there,” Oskerka added. “With all the jobs coming in, it’s going to be good for the community.”
Seefried wants to build the largest of the proposed buildings on 16 acres at 25 E. Algonquin Road, southeast of the Mount Prospect Road intersection. It will be nearly 275,000 square feet and cost $14 million, city documents indicate.
The property last had been used by Honeywell UOP, which is headquartered across Algonquin Road on the northeast corner of the intersection.
Two vacant industrial buildings on the property first will be knocked down, city officials said.
Two additional buildings are planned for land just north of Algonquin Road on the current Honeywell UOP campus.
One will be a nearly 169,000-square-foot building on a 10-acre site. It will cost about $10 million, documents show.
An underused building there will be demolished, city spokesperson Brad Goodman said. Honeywell will retain an occupied building on the campus, he said.
The third building Seefried plans to construct will be more than 74,000 square feet and cost more than $6 million. It’ll occupy an undeveloped 9-acre site on the northern end of the Honeywell campus.
All three buildings will be designed for warehouse and office use, city documents indicate. Tenants haven’t yet been secured, said Jeff Rogers, the city’s community and economic development director.
To offset some of the redevelopment costs, Seefried Industrial Properties is asking the Cook County Board to reduce each of the property’s assessment rates for 12 years. The city council needed to first support the requests, and it did so Monday with three affirmative votes.
The tax breaks are relatively common in Cook County. They’re offered to encourage development of vacant, abandoned or rundown properties.
The regular assessment rate for commercial property in Cook County is 25% of the fair market value. The proposed break would reduce the assessment rates for each of the three sites to 10% for the first 10 years, 15% for the 11th year and 20% for the 12th year.
The incentives could cut the property tax bills for the three buildings by about $23 million over the 12-year period. Even with the proposed discounts, the properties will generate more tax dollars if developed than they do now, Rogers said.
Alderman Colt Moylan, who oversees community development issues for the council, thanked a Seefried representative in the audience for investing in Des Plaines. Moylan also spoke in favor of the county tax incentives.
“They help stimulate new investment, create jobs and foster good growth in our town,” he said.