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PROPOSED NO CASH BID REQUEST
Requestor: Rick Reinbold, Village President, Village of Richton Park
Request: Approval of No Cash Bid Request
Location: Village of Richton Park
Volume and Property Index Number:
180, 31-33-200-038-0000; 180, 31-33-200-040-0000; 180, 31-33-200-042-0000.
Summary: On behalf of the Village Board of Richton Park, I am pleased to submit this application to Cook County for the 2023-24 No Cash Bid Program. We are submitting a request to acquire the three (3) properties that comprise the Lakewood Plaza commercial development site in the Village. Our request consists of three (3) PINs, listed below:
All properties are presently owned by Lakewood Partners. Currently PIN 31-33-200-038-000 is a 0.4 acre, unimproved lot. PIN 31-33-200-040-0000 is a 3.9 acre site that contains the Lakewood Plaza commercial strip center. The strip center is a 21,345 square foot building that has four (4) active commercial uses within its nine (9) commercial slots. All users are tenants of Lakewood Partners. Those uses are: 1) Bea’s Kitchen and Kocktails restaurant; 2) Candy’s Place Bar and Grill; 3) Village Cleaners, and; 4) Ivy Hue Dance Studio. PIN 31-33-200-042-0000 is a 9.9 acre unimproved lot. Together the three (3) properties cover 14.2 acres of land. The properties are zoned C-1 Community Commercial District in the Richton Park Zoning Ordinance.
In 2015 the Village of Richton Park entered into a Redevelopment Agreement with Mack Industries (later known as Lakewood Partners) to convey the three (3) parcels to the developer in exchange for future development of the site. The agreement called for the developer to upgrade the existing Lakewood Plaza building, subdivide the parcels, pursue and construct new outlot commercial development, and pursue and construct residential development on the remaining property, in a phased process. None of that has occurred on the PINs in question. In 2021 the Village initiated a default complaint on the Redevelopment Agreement with Mack Industries, but later dropped the complaint. The Village elected to pursue acquisition due to the property’s tax delinquent status.
The Village’s intent is to continue pursuing the development proposed at the time of the Redevelopment Agreement. That would include an upgraded Lakewood Plaza building, outlot commercial development, and new residential development. A zoning change would be pursued by the developer or the Village to accommodate development uses.
If successful in acquiring the parcels, the Village will file for tax exempt status, and maintain that status until such time that the parcels would be conveyed to a developer. This is not a third-party request to acquire on behalf of a developer. The Village has already retained legal counsel to assist in this application, and the Village is prepared to bear all legal and other costs associated with acquisition. The Village also agrees to submit No Cash Bid Annual Reports to the Cook County Department of Planning and Development on the status of each parcel for five years or until development is complete, whichever occurs last, in accordance with the Cook County No Cash Bid Ordinance.
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