“These ordinances will play a key role in economic development and neighborhood revitalization,” Daley said.  “Our goal is to strengthen neighborhoods by creating programs that help businesses grow, provide affordable housing and recreational opportunities and improve the local economy.”

4545 W. Armitage, Inc.
The first ordinance authorizes a Class C property tax incentive for the environmental remediation of the site located at 4545 W. Armitage Ave. and the rehabilitation of a warehouse building in the Hermosa community for future productive use.

The Class C incentive would support a $673,000 clean-up and redevelopment of a 13,900 square foot facility for reuse as candy storage and distribution space for A&D Candy.  The storage facility will also include office space. 

Renovation of the single-story building will help support an additional five new jobs and the retention of 26 existing jobs in the 31st Ward.

The development entity, 4545 W. Armitage Inc., owns and operates A&D Candy Inc.  The family-owned business, headquartered in Chicago, opened in 1988 and has grown to become one of the largest wholesale candy distributors in the U.S., serving small grocery and convenience stores.

SOS Children’s Village
The next ordinance authorizes the negotiated sale of 10 City-owned vacant parcels and the execution of a redevelopment agreement for the construction of five residential homes for at-risk youth in the New City community.

The developer, SOS Children’s Village, plans to construct the two-story homes split into two separate units, one for a children’s group home and another for a teacher’s residence in the 16th Ward. 

The parcels, located in the 5000 block of South Throop Street, will be conveyed for $1. 

Each 5,700 square foot home will provide long-term foster care by creating a stable family environment with trained and licensed foster parents that provide educational and therapeutic support.

SOS Children’s Village is a worldwide organization begun in Europe in 1949 and serves children in 132 countries.

The development will create 24 new permanent full-time jobs and approximately 50 temporary construction jobs.

67th/Wentworth TIF District
Another ordinance authorizes the creation of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District in parts of the 6th and 17th Wards.in order to encourage development and further investment in the Englewood and Grand Crossing communities. 

The proposed 67th/Wenthworth TIF on the City’s South Side will provide a way to help redevelop the former Kennedy-King College site, help facilaite new commercial and residential development and upgrade infrastructure to ehance the community areas.

The goal of the redevelopment area is to improve older commercial strips along State, Halsted, 71st and 75th streets and rehabilitate existing housing stock and stabilize the area and encourage the development of vacant parcels.

The TIF boundaries will include Marquette Road on the north, Cottage Grove Avenue on the east, 79th Street on the south and Green Street on the west. 

Accretive Health, Inc.
The next ordinance authorizes $6 million in TIF financing to help fund an expansion by Accretive Health, Inc. at 231 S. LaSalle St. in the Loop.

Plans call for Accretive to renovate the fifth floor of the building and operate a processing and training facility at the site in the 42nd Ward.  The City will commit $1.4 million towards build-out costs of the 44,380 square foot space and $4.6 million for training costs, which will result in 650 new entry level jobs over 10 years. 

Accretive manages healthcare revenue cycles for hospitals and physician networks by streamlining their patient insurance and benefit verification processes, medical treatment documentation and coding and bill preparation.

Founded in 2003, the Chicago-based company employs 175 employees at its headquarters at 401 N. Michigan Ave.

New Moms, Inc.
Also introduced was an ordinance that authorizes $4.1 million in loans, fee waivers, the transfer of $276,000 in donations tax credits and designates New Moms, Inc. as the developer for the construction of a residential home for teenage mothers and their children in the Austin community.

The four-story building, to be built on the site of the former 15th District Police Station at 5327 W. Chicago Ave., will provide 40 units of permanent supportive housing for teenage mothers who are at-risk of homelessness.  The $12 million complex will also include a day care facility, meeting rooms, administrative offices and training space. 

Various green design elements will be incorporated into the building’s design, including an Energy Star rated roof, permeable pavers and a high efficiency HVAC system.  The project is expected to generate 12 new jobs and retain 31 current positions.

New Moms will offer teenage mothers parenting classes, job training and educational opportunities that they will need to become independent, self-supporting women.

Since 1983, the grass roots organization has provided housing and support services to over 1,000 teenage mothers and their children.

Holden Block Landmark and Class L Designation
Introduced also were two ordinances that designate the Holden Block on the City’s Near West Side an official landmark and authorize a Class L property tax incentive for the rehabilitation of the vacant building at 1027 W. Madison St. into a vibrant commercial property.

The four-story structure, built in 1872, is a high style Italianate commercial loft building with a Buena Vista sandstone façade and is finely detailed with a variety of carved and incised window ornaments.  Built in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the property represents a standard building style where commercial blocks were popular features of many main street business districts. 

A $5.4 million investment by the building’s owners, 1027 Madison Partners LLC, includes extensive interior and exterior renovation.  The proposed exterior scope of work includes restoration of the façade, the addition of historically-inspired windows and the reconstruction of the missing cornice.  Interior work consists of the addition of new exit stairs, a new elevator, bathrooms and new electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire protection systems. 

The Class L incentive is a special property tax assessment classification to encourage the preservation and rehabilitation of designated landmark buildings.  Property owners can have their taxes reduced for a 12 year period, provided they invest half of the value of the building in an approved rehabilitation project. 

Total tax incentives would be nearly $1.4 million over the 12-year period and lead to the repositioning of the historic building into a mix-use retail and office complex for an advertising agency that employs 65 people.

Schlitz Brewery Tied House Landmark Designation
The next introduced ordinance designates the former Schlitz Brewery tied house at 1801 W. Division St. in the West Town community a Chicago Landmark.

The building, an excellent example of the German Renaissance Revival style, was commissioned in 1900 by Edward Uihlein of the Milwaukee-based brewery as a tied house for the exclusive sale of its products. 

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was the most prolific builder of tied houses in Chicago, constructing at least 57 such taverns from the 1890s to the early 1900s.  Its logo featuring a distinctive relief of the belted Schlitz beer globe insignia is still visible on the building’s façade in the 1st Ward.

Like other brewery tied houses, Schlitz tied houses were essentially taverns that sold only the brand of beer to which they were “tied” to ensure exclusive placement of their products. 

This is the second of a group of nine Schlitz tied houses that are being considered for landmark status.

Landmark Status for Spiegel Administration Building
Also introduced was an ordinance that designates the Spiegel Administration Building at 1038 W. 35th St. a Chicago Landmark. 

The building, built in two stages between 1936 and 1942, housed the mail order operations for Spiegel, Inc., one of the world’s largest catalog retailers, best known for its namesake Spiegel catalog.  Spiegel, Inc. was one of the leaders of the early mail order industry in Chicago.

Built in the Art Moderne style, the six-story industrial office building has sleek lines and vertical ribbons of glass block.  It’s located in the Central Manufacturing District, one of the first planned industrial districts in the country in the 11th Ward.

The building’s initial two stories were designed by the engineering firm Battey & Kipp.  Its four-story addition was designed by noted engineer and architect Abraham Epstein. The loft-style structure provided an abundance of light, fresh air and flexible work spaces compared with older, more traditional industrial buildings within the district,

After the Spiegel family sold the company to a financial firm in 1965, the building was used for merchandise distribution. In 1993, all company operations were moved out of state.

TIF-Neighborhood Improvement Programs
The next two ordinances authorize the Department of Housing and Economic Development (HED) to enter into separate agreements with Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Inc. (NHS) to administer $2 million in grant funds for round two of the 47th/Halsted TIF Neighborhood Improvement Program (TIF-NIP) and the 47th/King Drive TIF-NIP.

HED will enter into amended agreements with NHS and NHS will receive up to $1 million for each program to fund home improvements on the City’s South Side in parts of the 3rd, 11th 16th and 20th Wards. 

The single-family programs will offer up to $22,500 in grants to qualified owner/occupants of one‑to‑four unit properties for exterior repairs and limited interior improvements to help rehabilitate their properties.  The homes must be located within the TIF boundaries.

The 47th/Halsted TIF is roughly bounded by Root St. on the north the Dan Ryan Expressway on the east; Garfield Blvd. on the south and Racine Ave. on the west.

The 47th/King Drive TIF boundaries include Pershing Rd, St. Lawrence Ave., 51st and State Streets.

63rd/Ashland Neighborhood Improvement Program
Also introduced was an ordinance authorizing an agreement with Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Inc. to establish the 63rd/AshalndTIF-NIP.  

NHS will receive up to $500,000 for home improvements on the City’s South Side in parts of the 15h, 16th and 17th Wards.

The program provides eligible homeowners with grants of up to $22,500 for primarily exterior improvements to their properties.

The homes must be located within the 63rd/Ashalnd TIF boundaries.  The 63rd/Ashland TIF is bounded roughly by 59th St. on the north; Ashland Ave. on the east; 65th St. on the south and Bell Ave. on the west.

Black on Black Love
Another ordinance authorizes the sale of the former Avalon Branch Library building at 8828 S. Stony Island Ave. to Black on Black Love, an anti-crime and anti-violence organization that helps the disadvantaged transform their lives. 

Under the proposal, the 8,000 square foot facility will be sold for $5,000 to become the permanent home for the organization.  The nonprofit agency will spend $260,000 to renovate the 1960s building to provide space for its current and projected needs.

The organization’s chief mission is to help engage at-risk youth in mentoring and after school activities, provide female ex-offenders with a support system necessary to get them back on the right track and assisting others with vocational skills and promoting counseling.

IGA with the CHA and CPD
Introduced also was an ordinance that authorizes a land exchange proposal between city agencies for seven parcels of land on the Near West Side for the development of a new park.

The proposal would allow the City to acquire the land located at 151 S. Rockwell St. and 2540-56 W. Jackson St. from the CHA, spend $2.8 million in Open Space Impact Fee funds for site preparation and development and later transfer ownership of the land to the Chicago Park District for West End Park.

The 2.18 acre site, previously occupied by the Rockwell Gardens public housing development, will be cleaned up and redeveloped into a neighborhood park as part of a multi-phase redevelopment plan for the neighborhood that includes housing for families and seniors.

The plan for the public park includes a ball field and spray pool as well as improved streetscape with plantings and fencing in the 2nd Ward.

Improvements to Livingston Field
The next ordinance authorizes an intergovernmental agreement with the Chicago Park District to provide $3 million in TIF financing for improvements to Livingston Filed on the Near West Side.

The City traded vacant parcels with the Illinois Medical District in exchange for land that contains the park and athletic fields and conveyed it to the Park District in 2010.

The exchange allowed for Livingston Field, located at the corner of Polk and Leavitt Streets, to remain in the community as open space and as a venue for youth sports leagues in a neighborhood underserved by park space.

Plans for the park include environmental remediation work, vacating a portion of Leavitt Street and constructing a combination baseball and football field with artificial turf and lighting in the 25th Ward.

IGA with Board of Education
The next ordinance authorizes an intergovernmental agreement with the Board of Education for $750,000 in TIF funds for the installation of a new athletic field at Henry D. Lloyd Elementary School in the Hermosa community.

The school, located at 2103 N. Lamon Ave., will install a new 23,000 square foot artificial turf playing surface in place of the existing grass.  The project also involves the addition of an underground storm water detention system. 

In addition to sport activities, the new field will be made available for other activities due to its resistance to wear and tear.