Western Springs Mulls Developer Subsidy

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs is considering hiring a consultant to determine what type of subsidy it can give a developer who requested money shortly before starting work on a downtown project last year.

KLM Development, owned by Felix Lampariello, is pressing the village for up to $1.5 million in assistance. Otherwise, he said, the project may not be profitable.

In October, ground was broken on a four-story condo building at 514 Hillgrove Ave. Usually, subsidies are secured before projects begin.

The subsidy would come from a tax increment financing district, or TIF, where growth in property tax money is designated for improvements in that area.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, trustees said they planned to vote soon on hiring consulting firm Ryan LLC to determine eligible costs for a subsidy and estimate the property taxes generated from the project. In December, Ryan LLC acquired Kane, McKenna & Associates, which has long provided consulting services on TIFs.

"We're supposed to get an additional assessment or evaluation of the TIF incentive that is going to be paid out," village attorney Michael Jurusik told the board. "We want to make sure the costs associated with the project are reasonable."

In December, Patch obtained public records in which the developer made the case why it should get public money.

The project is set to include commercial space and 10 condos. According to the developer, the condos will range in price from $650,000 to $1.4 million. The building will be called The Hill.

The idea behind a tax increment financing district is that the money spurs development, which will bring more taxes to local government bodies in the long run.