Homewood trustees took two steps to revitalize the west side of the village’s commercial district at their board meeting on Tuesday, August 13.

The board approved an ordinance removing two properties – Parkway West Plaza, commonly known as Great American Bagel Plaza, and the former Brunswick Zone/Big Lots site – from the Kedzie Gateway TIF District. It then approved three ordinances officially creating a new Tax Incremental Financing district to encourage redevelopment of those two properties.

The board held a public hearing on the proposed TIF district at its July 23 meeting. There were no comments or questions from the public or trustees.

Phil McKenna of Ryan LLC, the consulting firm that conducted the feasibility study for the new district, gave an overview. He said that without the financial incentives provided by the TIF district, he did not believe the site would be redeveloped.

The area suffered a significant loss when the Brunswick Zone bowling alley abruptly closed in January 2015. Recently, Big Lots relocated to Country Club Hills. Park West Plaza has been partially vacant for several years.

Work has begun to renovate the former Big Lots store to make room for an Ollie’s discount store. The redevelopment plan calls for a wine and liquor store, and an additional use has yet to be determined.

Rabid Brewing, currently located on Bretz Drive in Homewood, has signed a letter of intent to move to Park West Plaza.

TIF districts generate revenue by freezing the assessed value of properties in the district when the district is established. Then, when property assessments increase, the difference between the base value and the new value is deposited into a fund that can be used to support eligible improvements that encourage new economic activity.

The term of the district is 23 years.

McKenna said most of the money raised in the TIF fund will be used for land acquisition, site preparation and utility delivery.

The establishment of the TIF was delayed for several months while the village waited for the county to confirm the updated assessed value of the property following the village’s acquisition of both properties. Since the village pays no taxes on land it owns, the base assessed value for the properties is effectively zero, which will help the county generate more money for redevelopment costs.

In other business, the Board approved a redevelopment agreement with Steve Phillipos, owner of Homewood Ford Inc., located at 3233 183rd St. in the Kedzie Gateway TIF district.

Phillipos is expanding the dealer and parking area, remodeling the facility and making site improvements, including storm water drainage improvements.

The Township will reimburse Phillipos 50% of TIF-eligible expenditures up to a maximum of $2,451,422 for the remaining 20 years of the District’s existence.