Dear Neighbor,
I am writing to invite you to attend a community meeting on a proposal to restore the terra cotta exterior of 6740 N. Sheridan Road (at Columbia), using $200,000 in Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District funding.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 3rd, 7:00 p.m., at Loyola University's Campion Hall, 1125 N. Sheridan, in the Bremner Lounge.
The building houses the Village North Theater, Starbucks and other businesses. Anthony Fox of ADF Capital purchased the property last year and plans extensive interior and exterior renovations. He is evicting the current owner of the Village North Theater, but hopes to keep the theater open after extensive renovations.
Mr. Fox will be on hand to share his plans for the property.
All applications for TIF funding must be approved by the Chicago City Council and the local alderman. I urge you to attend the meeting to share your views on the proposal, which will inform my decision making. If you are unable to attend the meeting, please feel free to share your views with me by replying to this e-mail or calling my office at 773-338-5796.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Joe Moore
7 comments:
thank you mr new owner
this is actually a very good use of TIF money
that i think most people would have a hard time disagreeing with
plain and simple alot of restoration wont happend without TIF money, cuz they would rather just knock it down otherwise and start from scratch,
ofcourse i feel the money spent in restoration ultimately is better spent, and you get something far more valuable than something new
i was worried about that buiding
thank you new owners conglomerate people
ADF Capital
press release
ADF Capital Acquires Mixed-Use Site at 6740 Sheridan
for $3.25M 9/07
Who will Fox rent the Theater to? Has he considered changes in the industry that favor a Century Theater type approach like the one in Evanston? Is he really sincere?
Why can't he work with the current owner after the rehab? I mean the present leaser has experience and staying power!
Is Fox looking for an excuse to strip the theater of architectural treasures like they first did to the Granada Theater in the late Sixties in order to fund a JAM Productions project that never got off the ground. JAM should have been supported, not thwarted, but hindsight is 20/20.
For those who are unaware, the Granada Theater organ is now in the nut maven, San Felippo's home. Of course, if the organ was not there, where would it be? That is the question and the assumption is the garbage. Perhaps, a conservancy would have worked for the Granada. For those who care, I suggest that they tell the goofballs still mourning Ducabeli to get off their A**es and convene meetings and tours at the Uptown Theater!
If Fox is questioned, then someone should challenge how 'concrete' his plans really are! What is his current personal investment in the community? Does he live out in the north suburbs and is eager to gut and and renovate the place into another condo conversion? Does he have plans to use the money to fund a swimming pool in his backyard?
There are so many ifs, but so many days in a week, so I hope that someone approaches Fox with respect to see whether they can 'gingerly' get some reasonable answers out of him. Perhaps, this can be done by proxy!
If his answers are on video, then it is easier to prove him an unethical or extremely inept hypocrite if he does not follow through! In my lifetime, what is put on paper and presented to the public is about as credible as its twin brother, toilet paper, until it actually takes place. Witness the Adelphi!
Let's not let developers wipe their rears on the plans that they callously present to Rogers Park. Some present high hopes and have little capital other than questionable financing and a little bit of flim flam thank you man for our Alderman. Moore needs to wake up, but he needs to consider effective development for our Ward.
Good comment, lafew.
It's a better use of public money than many others. I can't begrudge a lousy $200K for this after watching so many tens of millions of dollars of our tax monies get tossed at so many white elephants. But it would be altogether better if public money could be reserved strictly for urgent public uses, especially when our road and water infrastructure is so dangerously decrepit,and I think we need to work on getting the legislation that enables TIF districts repealed, period.
In the meantime, I notice that the developer is using the word "restoration" instead of "renovation" or "redevelopment", which I find encouraging.
I hope nothing business-related interferes with my attending the meeting Tues. night. This is one I really want to make.
Thank goodness your not whining about supporting this project. Yu cant complain about not saving buildings then turn around and complain when they do.
"It's a better use of public money than many others. I can't begrudge a lousy $200K for this ... "
is it a better use of public money than our schools?
would you begrudge this multi-millionaire developer Mr. Fox $200K once you understood that it is TIF money and half of every TIF dollar is a former Board of Education dollar?
do you support taking $100K from the Chicago Public Schools to rehab a movie theater?
Hugh, I'd like to stop the entire Loyola TIF and allocate the money to the schools, the water and sewer and road infrastructure, the public transit, and the police and fire department. We have so many really critical needs that are not being met.
TIF districts should not even exist. Most of them fail of their stated purpose, which is economic development within their boundaries, and do more to erode the tax base than build it.
However, the TIF is a fact, and there remains only to decide what useless, non-public-purpose project gets the dough.
Under current laws and rules, there is no way, I'm told, to cancel this TIF and roll it back, and our leaders can continue to speed the city toward total bankruptcy by promulgating more TIF districts.
We need to work to repeal the state legislation that authorizes cities to form TIF districts and allocate money in this way, but first we all have to agree that diversions of public money to private purposes should be completely off the table. At this time, there is no impetus among the citizens to roll back all the programs and laws that help convey money from the taxpayers to a huge variety of non-public beneficiaries.
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