Antioch shopping center's future may depend on tax

Developers of Antioch Marketplace told village officials Tuesday that without a special sales tax to help offset building costs, the sprawling retail development won't come to fruition.

During a special board meeting, trustees didn't give developers from Chicago-based V-Land Corp. much hope they would agree to a businesses district, but said they would commission a feasibility study to look at the economic benefits of increasing the sales tax in the shopping center.

The creation of a business district would mean the sales tax at the stores within the district would be up to 1 percentage point higher than the village's standard 6.5 percent. The additional tax could be used by the developer to pay for roads, sanitary sewer and other infrastructure improvements within the district.

"I'm looking at 800-plus jobs for our village, economic growth, tax dollars to help take care of our community and I would at least like to see what they come back with in terms of numbers," said Trustee Robert McCarty.

The study will be paid for by developers and conducted by Kane, McKenna and Associates of Chicago, which is the same group that assisted Lindenhurst last year in creating its business district for the Village Green project.

Antioch Marketplace, a 600,000 square-foot shopping center planned for the north side of Route 173 just west of Deep Lake Road, was originally expected to include three anchor stores -- Kohl's, Lowe's and Target -- but Target backed out of the deal in December.

Andrew Goodman, development manager, said because the retail environment has changed, a business district is necessary to move the project forward.

Trustees are not convinced.

"This is an admission fee for customers to this development," said Trustee Robert Caulfield. "That admission fee goes to keep the profit margin to the developer in a comfortable place. So the question is, if you don't get the 1 percent, where are you at?"

Goodman said the project will likely be scrapped without the sales tax increase.

Goodman also said delays by the village board have hurt the economic viability of Antioch Marketplace.

Trustee Dennis Crosby took issue with Goodman's insinuation that the project is floundering because the board took several months to approve the development.

"Even if we approved this project in June last year, Target still would not have signed without approval from (the Illinois Department of Transportation), which you don't have," Crosby said. "I feel this has been an unfair characterization of the situation."

Before Tuesday's meeting, Trustee Larry Hanson said given the current economy, he has a tough time asking residents to support a private development.

"We stuck to our guns with Wal-Mart and I think we need to do it again here," Hanson said.

Crosby said he has many concerns with the idea of a businesses district including the precedent it would set and competition with Wisconsin where the sales tax is 5.1 percent and food is not taxed.

"I don't see anything wrong with doing the study," Crosby said. "But I think you have a very, very high hurdle to get over here."