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PROPOSED NO CASH BID REQUEST
Requestor: Mary Werner, President, Village of Worth
Request: Approval of No Cash Bid Request
Location: Village of Worth
Volume and Property Index Number:
152, 23-24-211-027-0000; 152, 23-24-211-028-0000; 245, 24-18-303-006-0000; 246, 24-19-209-034-0000; 246, 24-19-410-017-0000
Summary: On behalf of the Village, please find enclosed the Village of Worth’s no-cash bid request package for the 2021-2022 No Cash Bid Program for five (5) PINs, as follows: The Village has retained legal counsel to obtain tax deeds to the above-noted parcels and will bear all legal and other costs associated with the acquisition of these parcels. As detailed hereinbelow, the Village anticipates marketing the properties for private redevelopment in the event it is able to obtain tax deed(s) but has not yet fielded any third-party requests or otherwise identified a specific investor or third party to whom the Village presently plans to deed any particular parcel. There have not been any third-party requests made to the Village to acquire any of the above-properties. The Village will submit to the Cook County Planning and Development Department no-cash bid reports on the status of each parcel until the later of five years or the completion of redevelopment.
PINs 23-24-211-027-0000 and 23-24-211-028-0000, collectively comprise the property commonly known as 11318 S. Harlem Avenue, Worth, Illinois 60482. The property is now vacant land following a devastating fire around 2012 that destroyed a Chinese restaurant formerly situated on the property. The property no longer features any vertical improvements, but is paved. The property would be ideally suited for redevelopment either as an off-street surface parking lot serving the adjacent commercial strip mall to the north with just minimal investment for grading and paving improvements or with the construction of a new commercial structure. Either outcome would enhance the surrounding commercial district and either directly or indirectly offer local jobs and a boost to the Village’s sales and property tax bases by increasing accessibility to the existing neighboring businesses or through redevelopment by a third-party developer or end-user for commercial use. The Village has no liens on the property. If a tax deed were to issue to the Village, the Village would seek a property tax exemption to minimize its holding costs while marketing the property to private third-party prospective purchasers for commercial redevelopment of the property. The Village anticipates interest from neighboring businesses looking to increase off-street parking for customers and employees.
PIN 24-18-303-006-0000, commonly known as 7137 W. 109th Place, Worth, Illinois 60482, features an unoccupied residential structure. The owner of the property (John K. Williams) is deceased and the single-family home on the property has been continuously vacant since December, 2018. The Village has recorded several liens against this property in an attempt to recover its lawn expenditures. The structure is dilapidated and will require extensive renovation or demolition by a future owner. If a tax deed were to issue to the Village, the Village would seek a property tax exemption to minimize its holding costs while simultaneously working diligently to identify a prospective private buyer for residential redevelopment of the property, either via demolition of the existing structure and construction of a new single-family home, or through extensive rehabilitation of the existing structure. The Village would benefit from the redevelopment of this property both by no longer expending scarce public resources to maintain the exterior elements and landscaping of the property and by helping to prevent the spread of blight throughout the property’s host neighborhood.
PIN 24-19-209-034-0000, commonly known as 6437 W. 111th Street, Worth, Illinois 60482, features an unoccupied commercial structure. Formerly the home of a rug cleaning business, this commercial structure has been continuously unoccupied for seven years, since October, 2015. The structure is boarded up and suffers from deferred maintenance. The Village has recorded liens against the property for years of water/sewer service arrears and lawn maintenance. Off-street parking serving existing businesses in the vicinity of the property is scarce, so the Village believes that this property would be attractive to one of the neighboring businesses as a candidate for potential teardown and replacement with a parking lot. If a tax deed were to issue to the Village, the Village would seek a property tax exemption to minimize its holding costs while simultaneously working diligently to identify a prospective private buyer for commercial redevelopment of the property. The Village anticipates interest from neighboring businesses seeking a means of boosting off-street parking options for prospective customers. Eliminating the dilapidated, long-vacant building would substantially benefit the commercial strip on which it is situated by improving neighborhood aesthetics and either generating additional customer traffic to the area or by offering parking for patrons or prospective patrons of nearby businesses.
PIN 24-19-410-017-0000 is commonly known as 11526 S. Ridgeland Avenue, Worth, Illinois 60482. The property is improved with a commercial structure that is believed to be unoccupied, though the premises may be used for storage of landscaping equipment for a landscaping business that maintains signage on the property. The property is adjacent to Interstate 294 and features a billboard erected on the property. On information and belief, the billboard generates income for the property owner. The business nominally on site has not obtained a required business license from the Village for the past seven years. The Village will endeavor to better identify the present state of activity or lack thereof on the property in connection with its no-cash bid request package. The property is presently owned by Wasim Ali Aburab, but is subject to a pending mortgage foreclosure action by former owner Ronald B. Vander Velde (Case No. 2020 CH 05659, still pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County). The property is the lone commercially-zoned property in a sea of residential use. If the Village were to obtain a tax deed to this property, the Village would rezone the property for residential use to better align with existing uses in the neighborhood seek a property tax exemption to minimize its holding costs, and attempt to sell the residentially-zoned parcel to a prospective purchaser. Due to the location of the property immediately adjacent to I-94, together with its small size and irregular shape, the Village believes that the pool of prospective purchasers may be small. The Village would approach the neighboring property owners to determine if they would be interested in purchasing the property to expand their yard and consolidate their real estate holdings. Alternatively, the Village would consider retaining ownership of the parcel and seeking a municipal use for the premises, potentially to include open space, a pocket park for the neighborhood, or a municipal use compatible with the residential surroundings.
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