Tinley Park Plaza Demolition: 2 New Businesses Coming To Town

TINLEY PARK, IL — If you're going for a drive through Tinley Park, you may notice a large fence and mass construction taking place on the east side of Harlem, south of 159th Street. The highly anticipated Brixmor Property Group project expected to bring new businesses to the Tinley Park Plaza is underway. The Brixmor Group's redevelopment project may result in a possible $22 million dollar makeover to the shopping center.

The Tinley Park Village Board of Trustees approved of the project back in September 2020. The board authorized Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the renovations to part of the plaza. The redevelopment agreement includes the demolition of 87,000 square feet of property and the construction of approximately 66,600 square feet for current businesses in the plaza, along with future retailers. The project also includes general improvements to storefronts, landscaping and the parking lot.

One future business to come to the plaza is slated to be a softgoods retailer, which plans to occupy 25,000 square feet at the location. The retailer has yet to be identified. Current tenants in the plaza include Walt's, Dollar Tree and Planet Fitness. These businesses are still open at this time.

The village said Brixmor is still in the early phases of its redevelopment project, and that construction of new retail spaces will accommodate the retailers under contract.

"Future renovations will include the creation of new tenant spaces, improvements to the north end of the in-line center, and separating the current in-line center into two buildings for better access to loading docks and service entrances essential for deliveries," the village said.

Brixmor hopes to provide the "white boxes"of the property to two new retailers by March, the village said.

The agreement asked for financial assistance from the village in an amount not to exceed the lesser of $9.9 million or 50 percent of whatever the project will cost. The village assistance will be funded by a mix of both TIF incremental revenues from businesses in the shopping center and a one percent incremental municipal tax generated by all businesses in the shopping center for 10 years.

A maximum of $8.1 million of TIF costs are to be paid from the TIF increment generated. The remainder of $1.8 million is to be paid from incremental sales taxes. The portion of the money to be funded between the TIF eligible costs and sales tax can fluctuate based on expenses for the project as a whole. The agreement states that in addition to the overall $9.9 million maximum, the amount that can be provided from sales taxes cannot be any more than $2.5 million.

To be successful, the achievement of the maximum amount of village assistance will be based on the performance of businesses and ability of successful renovations to attract new retailers for the shopping center. Bringing in more businesses would generate new sales taxes to the community.

The Tinley Park Plaza was developed in 1974 and has been owned by Brixmor since 1995.

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