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Schaumburg talks incentives for Zurich Insurance

Schaumburg officials Tuesday discussed a proposed incentive agreement for Zurich Insurance to relocate from its two towers to an area of the Motorola Solutions campus elsewhere in the village.

The draft agreement defines the 30- to 40-acre redevelopment as eligible for up to 65 percent of the funds it would generate itself from a proposed tax increment finance district in the area.

However, these funds would have to be used for TIF-eligible aspects of the project, such as demolition of existing structures on the site, environmental remediation and disposal of materials.

“If 65 percent is more than their TIF-eligible expenses, they’d only get the TIF-eligible expenses,” Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald explained.

But the promise of 65 percent of the property’s TIF funds is an incentive to Zurich, not a limitation, because the village would otherwise have no obligation to spend the funds on any specific aspect of the area’s improvement, Fitzgerald said.

The TIF district the village is proposing for early next year would generally cover the area north of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway and south of Algonquin Road.

A TIF district works by freezing the share of property tax other taxing bodies receive at the level of the district’s first year. Increases beyond that amount go to a municipally held fund reserved for public improvements within the district.

A TIF district expires after 23 years or when all public improvements have been paid off, whichever comes first.

Zurich’s 30 or 40 acres of the Motorola campus are expected to generate $18 million to $28 million in TIF funds over those 23 years.

The uncertainty over the size of the development is due to a pending decision on whether Zurich would also buy the nearly 10-acre property housing a day care facility on the site, in addition to the 30 acres already committed to, Zurich Business Lead Jennifer Kyung said.

The incentive resolution Schaumburg trustees will vote on next Tuesday only states their intention to enter into a more binding redevelopment agreement that would contain the same terms after the TIF district is established early next year, Fitzgerald said.

Zurich Ins. moving to Motorola Schaumburg campus

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