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Meijer, a regional big box retailer, formally anounced its plans to open up a 90,000 square foot store in Cermak Plaza at the Berwyn City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting on Jan. 25.
Micheal Flickenger, Meijer's Director of Real Estate, said that the building should employ 125-130 people, and that the company focuses on hiring people from within the communities where they open stores.
The store is expected to be an eco-friendly building on the site of the former Service Merchandise. That building will be torn down and a new eco-friendly facility will be built from the ground up. A public memo from the Berwyn Development Corporation states the project will cost over $13 million to construct and operate.
Flickinger said that the site's owner is expected to start tearing the old building down in April and deliver the property to Meijer in June or July of this year. The store would open sometime in 2012.
Meijer has signed a lease for the property, but has an opt-out clause that remains in effect until the middle of next month. The deal largely hinged on the city council passing a sales tax rebate incentive, which it passed later that evening in the regular city council meeting.
That deal would repay Meijer 45 percent of its sales tax revenue for the next 20 years up to $3.5 million. The Berwyn Development Corporations memo also stated that the project is expected to generate an additional $13.7 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years. However, the city is looking to create a tax increment finance district that would include Cermak Plaza, which it said might be used to repay that same $3.5 million. If that TIF is created, the city's taxing bodies would not gain any increases in property tax revenues from the site.
Meijer, a regional big box retailer, formally anounced its plans to open up a 90,000 square foot store in Cermak Plaza at the Berwyn City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting on Jan. 25.
Micheal Flickenger, Meijer's Director of Real Estate, said that the building should employ 125-130 people, and that the company focuses on hiring people from within the communities where they open stores.
The store is expected to be an eco-friendly building on the site of the former Service Merchandise. That building will be torn down and a new eco-friendly facility will be built from the ground up. A public memo from the Berwyn Development Corporation states the project will cost over $13 million to construct and operate.
Flickinger said that the site's owner is expected to start tearing the old building down in April and deliver the property to Meijer in June or July of this year. The store would open sometime in 2012.
Meijer has signed a lease for the property, but has an opt-out clause that remains in effect until the middle of next month. The deal largely hinged on the city council passing a sales tax rebate incentive, which it passed later that evening in the regular city council meeting.
That deal would repay Meijer 45 percent of its sales tax revenue for the next 20 years up to $3.5 million. The Berwyn Development Corporations memo also stated that the project is expected to generate an additional $13.7 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years. However, the city is looking to create a tax increment finance district that would include Cermak Plaza, which it said might be used to repay that same $3.5 million. If that TIF is created, the city's taxing bodies would not gain any increases in property tax revenues from the site.
