Developer renews request of tax break for Hoffman Estates technology park
Due to delays to both its planned land purchase and construction of a multi-building "Hoffman Technology Park" in Hoffman Estates, a developer is seeking a renewal of the village's recommendation for a Cook County property tax incentive.
The planning, building & zoning committee Monday endorsed the village board's making such a formal recommendation again in a week. Officials said the delays experienced by Hoffman Technology Park LLC were caused by negotiations with its neighboring property owner to the west, Meijer, in coordinating access to the site.
When the village board originally recommended the Class 6B tax incentive last June, the developer expressed hope that the first building could be completed by late summer 2020. But not even the closing of the land purchase has yet occurred.
One of Cook County's criteria for the incentive is that work begin within a year of the local municipality's recommendation.
The 53-acre site lies just north of the pending Bell Works redevelopment of the former AT&T campus along Lakewood Boulevard.
The plans were originally presented last spring by BK Equities, a development firm led by former executives of Rosemont-based Colliers International. But the legal entity overseeing this specific project is now known as Hoffman Technology Park LLC.
The three or four buildings of the park would provide a maximum of 800,000 square feet of space suitable for such uses as manufacturing, service, warehousing, showrooms, offices and research and development for multiple companies.
Representatives of the developer last year emphasized the project's compatibility with neighboring Bell Works, which will feature a mixture of multifamily homes, offices, stores, restaurants and a hotel. In fact, the two developments would share the same leasing broker.
The Cook County incentive the technology park developers seek essentially cuts property taxes in half for 10 years, and then gradually increases them during the 11th and 12th years before returning to normal.
This tax break is made available by the Cook County Board as a way of making approved industrial developments competitive with those in collar counties.