Geneva selling half-acre site in East State Street corridor

The Geneva City Council declared a city-owned parcel surplus property on Monday, a move intended to facilitate its sale.

The approximately half-acre parcel at 617 E. State St. is in the East State Street Tax Increment Finance District as an interior lot, City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins said.

"The city purchased the property in February 2013 for $95,000 to stimulate the economic growth of the East State Street corridor by assembling properties and/or working with investors to best develop potential commercial parcels," Dawkins said.

Shortly after the purchase, the city declared the house on the property as surplus and demolished it, she said.

"The land was consistently marketed for sale - for assembly or new development," Dawkins said. "What we discovered in this process was we never declared the actual land surplus - we only declared the house surplus that was on the land. So the next step is to declare the property surplus."

The move will authorize the city to advertise the property for sale and invite buyers to make an offer.

"Interest is probably going to come from adjoining property owners, because it is a small parcel, which is why we purchased it," Dawkins said. "All the parcels (on East State Street) are a bit smaller in size. So the idea was to be able to combine a couple parcels."

The city has listed the parcel for sale at $150,000. In addition to being in a TIF district, the property is within walking distance to Dairy Queen, Aldi and CVS Pharmacy in the East State Street corridor, has a high vehicle count per day and is in a mixed-use development area of commercial and residential property, according to the listing.

A TIF district is an economic development tool that freezes property taxes for local governments. Any additional property tax revenue generated as land values increase go to city-controlled fund that can be to pay for improvements within the district.