Cook County Incentive Lures 30 Jobs to Tinley

A tax break from Cook County could bring a plastics processing company, 30 to 35 new jobs and $27 million in economic benefit to Tinley Park, village officials said.

On Tuesday, the village board approved a resolution supporting a Cook County incentive deal to lure VK Aquisitions LLC to buy the old H.B. Fuller and Valspar building at 7351 Duvan Drive. The company will then rehab the building and rent it to Innovative Impact Design, a company that turns used plastic into small pellets used in roofing, pallets and other products.

What this means for Tinley Park is new jobs that will bring an estimated $27 million into the local economy in the first five years, plus some new life in the town's industrial corridor.

The formerly burgeoning industrial area on Duvan Drive has, in the words of Finance and Economic Developing Committee Chairman Dave Seaman, "a challenged area for 15 to 20 years."

The particular building has been vacant since 2007.

"It'll be nice after four years to get someone there," Trustee Patricia Leoni said.

Cook County lured the business to town by changing the building's assessment category to 6B. Property tax jargon aside, that means that for the first 10 years they'll be basing the business' property taxes off 10 percent of the market value instead of 25 percent.

If you base property taxes off the lower figure, that means the business will pay crazy-low property taxes for the first 10 years. Cook County is using 6B to encourage businesses to rehab vacant buildings rather than build new buildings out of the county.

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While the building was vacant, the owners paid $46,178 in property tax a year, village records said. Under the incentive deal, the new owner will pay $47,588 a year.

Village staff said using the 6B assessment category was a good fit for the site.

"It meets the criteria," Assistant Village Manager Mike Mertens said.