Business & Tech

Palos Town Square Development: Where It Stands and What's Next

The Palos Town Square Development, planned for College Drive and Harlem Avenue, enters a new phase of planning.

The Palos Town Square project now moves toward the final, and likely much slower, process of developing a final plan to submit to the city. 

Last week the full City Council approved the drafting of preliminary plan for the proposed development on the corner of College Drive and Harlem Avenue in a 7-1 vote. The passage came after approval and the . 

The move allows developer Lagestee-Mulder to move forward with more detailed plans for the site and financial negotiations with the city. While the preliminary plan details a site layout, building size and parking plans, a final plan would include very specific details about every aspect of the project.  

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At this point the proposed development has about 80 to 90 percent of the space designated as retail and will be composed of six separate buildings. Tad Lagestee, the site's developer, says several national restaurants and retailers have expressed interest.

As it currently stands, the preliminary plan identifies possible tenants as an auto service center, restaurant and a bank. Residents have in the past expressed concerns about the developer's plan to place a bank front and center on the corner of College Drive and Harlem Avenue. 

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In an effort to alleviate what seems like a resident aversion to banks, Ald. Michael McGrogan has mentioned in previous meetings the possibility of asking the bank to reimburse the city for the lost potential of sales tax. The aesthetics of a sign on that corner have also been discusses with the notion that it would serve as an entrance to town 

Further complicating the process is the fact that the development is in a TIF district and the developer is seeking to use TIF funds for the project. 

A TIF district allows municipalities to redirect property tax revenues into the redevelopment of the specified district by freezing the amount taxing bodies collect from that district at a set number, and then funneling the additional revenues collected into redevelopment costs. 

The city controls when and how all of the TIF money is paid out. Marisa Kolman, the city's community development coordinator, said that an agreement on TIF funds would likely push the developer into completing larger portions of the project at once, as opposed to erecting one building and leaving the rest undeveloped.  

"We are going to have it phased and required that in order to use the TIF funds for the development you have to produce other tenants," Kolman said when the preliminary plan was first submitted.

Ald. Alan Fulkerson was the lone dissenting vote in each of the three previous hearings on the issue. He characterized the current plan as not "forward-thinking" enough for Palos Heights. There are no changes the developer can make, short of completely revisioning the site that would change his mind.

Fulkerson said the city should, "wait until the economy improves if this is the best we can do right now."

He expresses support for past failed plans that included a residential component on that corner. 

The final plan for the development will have to follow the same process as the preliminary version. It will first be presented to the Planning Unit Development Commission, then the council's Planning and Zoning Committee and finally the full City Council. 

The final plan will include more detailed site descriptions. Palos Heights staff are also faced with the prospect of hammering out an agreement concerning TIF fund distribution. 

Lagestee, for his part, is eager to move at a brisk pace and sees construction beginning next spring if the approval process goes smoothly. 

Click on the PDF to view the plans up close. 

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