ACTION REQUESTED:
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Communication from the City Manager with a Request to Commence the Process to Expand the Boundaries of the PEORIA URBAN ENTERPRISE ZONE to Include NORTHWOODS MALL.
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BACKGROUND: In December 2014, the City of Peoria, Peoria County, Village of Peoria Heights and the City of West Peoria submitted a joint application to the State of Illinois for a new multi-jurisdictional Enterprise Zone. The new Enterprise Zone, named the Peoria Urban Enterprise Zone (PUEZ), was approved in the summer of 2015 and certified by the State of Illinois in December 2015 and includes a total of 15 square miles. The City of Peoria's maximum allowable miles in the PUEZ is 10 square miles. Currently, the City has designated 5.7 square miles in the PUEZ and has 4.3 square miles remaining for additional properties. The Peoria Urban Enterprise Zone became active on January 1, 2016.
Since the PUEZ inception, City staff has processed expansions of the City of Peoria's existing PUEZ boundaries to include properties scheduled for development and/or identified by staff as areas that would benefit from additional incentives. For the past several years, it has been policy to first seek permission from Council to pursue expansions prior to beginning the formal process.
In reviewing the current boundaries, and considering development opportunities, staff is requesting permission to add Northwoods Mall to the PUEZ. Northwoods Mall is an anchor property within the Sterling/War Memorial Corridor that serves as the retail heart of Peoria and the region. The property has significant development opportunities:
* There has been interest from a national developer in the former site of the JC Penney Automotive Center, an outlot on the Sterling Avenue side of Northwoods Mall. The existing building has been vacant for nearly a decade and previous attempts to develop the site have failed. The cost of developing the site is challenging due to the demolition of the existing ...
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