ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, March 26, 2012 – 7:00 p.m.
Council Chambers – Countryside City Hall

Ald. Sean McDermott, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He called the Roll of those physically present:

PRESENT: Ald. Sean McDermott, Chairman, City Admin. Gail Paul, Ald. Robert Pondelicek, Ald. James Jasinski, Treasurer Steven Jasinski.

Also Present: Mayor Krzeminski, Clerk Sweeney, Ald. Michalczyk, Ald. Musillami, Ald. Von Drasek, Andrew Goodman, GMX, Louis Schriber, Shorewood Development

Approval of Minutes

The first order of business was approval of the minutes of March 19, 2012. Treas. Jasinski moved to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Ald. Jasinski and carried unanimously.

New Proposal from Shorewood/GMX re: City Center Development

Andrew Goodman presented the site plan labeled, Option A for the LaGrange Road site and Option 3D for Joliet Road on the reverse side. The new proposal involves adding and removing various access points superimposed over the original site plan.

The LaGrange Road site depicts three proposed tenant buildings comprising 7,200 s.f. – including the multi-tenant building with four proposed tenants – Starbucks on the north endcap with a drive-thru, Qdoba Mexican Grille for the south endcap, and Vitamin Shoppe or Bedding Experts in the middle. The Joliet Road parcel is dealing with Texas Roadhouse. Treas. Jasinski asked whether any contracts have been executed with the LOIs. Mr. Goodman stated that they have pending LOIs with the end users based on whether they are the developer of choice for the City.

The parcels along LaGrange Road, parcels labeled B and C, comprise approximately 1.72. acres. They propose $1 million per acre for the finished lots up to the curb line with all site improvements in place. Shorewood will take the graded pads, finish compaction, put in footings, sidewalks and construct the buildings. The Joliet Road property is about 1.39 acres; for that they propose $750,000 per acre. Overall timing includes a due diligence period of four months; that could be collapsed to two months to make sure that all users are open by year end. Building construction takes four months. Mr. Goodman described the necessary work involved re: permit process, size of utilities, environmental testing and a development agreement – PUD approval – many details of the approval process including an operating easement agreement, cross-access and parking, ingress/egress to major streets as well as an understanding of the TIF agreement.

Treasurer Jasinski asked if there was an order of preference for leasing. Mr. Goodman stated that the strongest pre-leasing has been on LaGrange Road. The economic bar keeps dropping with Texas Roadhouse; Shorewood’s offer reflects the reduction in proposed ground rent; they are constantly seeking back-up tenants.

Have other restaurants stepped forward? Mr. Schriber stated that certain tenants have eliminated this market as a prospective site. The Darden Group is interested and will do a site visit in the next two weeks; their business includes Longhorn Steak House, Olive Garden and Red Lobster. The reason for other businesses excluding that site is the economy; the mainstays are the smaller 3,500 s.f. tenants. Mayor Krzeminski asked whether they have contacted Jamieson’s. Their brokers have, Cushman & Wakefield, did contact them and there was no interest. Mr. Goodman stated that Darden is very familiar with the Chicagoland market. Texas Roadhouse was not happy with high union labor costs and high advertising costs. Shorewood has enhanced their offer by $50-$100,000 per acre along LaGrange Road and $65,000 along Joliet Road. They hope to move forward with the development. They are constrained by the size issue.

Ald. Pondelicek asked how a mattress store became involved. Mr. Schriber stated that in pursuing unique non-food users that can support their offer, Vitamin Shoppe and Back to Bed are in that category. Mr. Goodman stated that average store sales for Vitamin Shoppe are $1.25 million per year, roughly $400/s.f. the same is true for the mattress store. Treas. Jasinski suggested Total Hockey, a unique business user. They have presented a list of 25 users to the City; none of them were prepared to sign a letter of interest, at any price, and they have declined; their regional market is Orland Park. Mr. Schriber stated that they have spent extraordinary efforts to get unique users.

Ald. Von Drasek asked whether Old Navy was approached. Mr. Goodman stated that the GAP is primarily interested in relocations to existing vacancies in regional centers; they want to be with other fashion /jewelry retailers, TJMAXX, Ross, Shoe Carnival, etc. The Harley location is not conducive to fashion type retailers. The active players right now are under 5,000 s.f. Treas. Jasinski asked about the economy over the next 1-2 years? There has only been 1 million s.f. of new retail built in the last year or two in this region, or 10% of previous growth in prior years. Much of that growth is from Walmart or Costco – direct stand-alone users. Many old Circuit City stores and other large old boxes have not been leased. Small users are still healthy, growing and present the development opportunity in the next two years. Mr. Schriber is strong on the market in the next two years He congratulated the City on procuring Harley for the site. They estimate $30 million in sales projections for Harley, which translates into $1,000/s.f. That is a tremendous benefit to the City. Ald. McDermott thanked both gentlemen for their presentation.

Adjournment

Ms. Paul moved to adjourn to Executive Session under Section 2Ac of the Open Meetings Act for the purpose of discussing real estate, seconded by Ald. Jasinski and carried by Roll Call vote.

Chairman McDermott declared the meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.

ALD. SEAN MC DERMOTT, CHAIRMAN