Potential changes to a business incentive tool geared to bolster the Westlake Shopping Center in Peoria would help finalize pending lease agreements, according to an attorney representing the retail venue.
The proposed changes to the Westlake Special Service Area would extend its duration 15 years through 2055, and increase the area’s supplemental sales tax rate by 0.25% to 1%.
Attorney Bob Hall spoke to the Peoria City Council on behalf of Westlake Shopping Center during a public hearing at the start of Tuesday’s regular meeting.
“It’s been challenging, as with a lot of centers, in that one of the things you have to do to be successful is manage change. In the context of a shopping center, the change is usually vacancies,” said Hall.
He said the shopping center has one tenant lease agreement in place with a national sporting goods and apparel outlet, and they’ve been negotiating another lease they hope to get signed shortly to fill another open storefront.
Hall said those new tenants, combined with the anticipated reopening of Guitar Center in the coming months after experiencing a water line break, will greatly benefit Westlake as a whole.
“The center will be virtually at a full occupancy, and adding more to the revenues through sales and everything for the city,” he said.
Hall also noted the council’s recent adoption of the Northwoods Mall tax increment financing [TIF] district, and said the quarter-percent tax increase would put Westlake in line with other incentivized shopping centers in Peoria.
“What that means is on a purchase of $100, the additional charge to a consumer will be a quarter— 25 cents,” said Hall. “I submit that the impact is not terribly draconian, and what that also does is it brings it in parity with the other commercial SSAs in Peoria, and also the business district that you just implemented for Glen Hollow.”
City attorney Patrick Hayes said while normally there is a required 60-day period after the public hearing before the council can pass any related ordinances, in the past a waiver has been granted by property owners to reduce that time period.
Hayes said they anticipate such a waiver in this instance, with Westlake eager to move forward on the pending agreements. The council is expected to take action on the Westlake SSA changes at its March 10 meeting.
“The Westlake Special Service Area has been in existence since 2010, and I think it’s been a good example of how cooperation and work between the city and a property owner and developer and shopping center owner can be accomplished,” said Hall.
In other business
As requested by council member Alex Carmona, the council agreed to defer a vote on a site application for package liquor sales at the King Zone grocery store on Knoxville Avenue.
While the liquor commission had recommended denial of the store’s request, Carmona asked to give the business more time to make improvements and compose a plan of operation. The action was deferred until March 24.
The council also took a procedural step to allow the city to reimburse its general fund at a later date for certain expenditures for upcoming projects and equipment purchases. Finance director Kyle Cratty explained the move gives his department more time to monitor the bond market until the conditions become more favorable.
Another matter of regular business saw the council approve spending $100,000 on a sole-source purchase of Econolite Traffic Cabinets from Traffic Control Corporation. The public works department needs an adequate inventory to ensure service continuity when existing cabinets get damaged.
Items approved as part of the consent agenda included:
- A contract not to exceed $350,000 with JIMAX for this year’s annual landscape stewardship and maintenance;
- A six-year extension of fiber networking and video service from i3 Broadband;
- An update to city code that increases the number of tobacco retail licenses from 13 to 14, following the discovery that JJ Vapes had been operating in full compliance but without a renewed license;
- Allowing construction of additional open fencing on Peoria Civic Center property, along Jefferson Avenue and William Kumpf Boulevard; and
- A special use request to operate an elderly housing facility in a nine-bedroom house and four-bedroom carriage house on a property in the 1500 block of North Bigelow Street.
