Post-Amazon Chicago: Mayor Seeks $1.7 Billion in Subsidies for Downtown Developments
Making the case that proposed developments won't come to fruition with support from tax increment financing, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is moving quickly to shore up development plans now that Amazon has moved on.1
- 1. Source: PlaNetizen
Mayor Rahm Emanuel was planning to fast-track $1.7 billion in subsidies to unlock the development potential of four massive projects in and around downtown even before Chicago appeared to have lost the competition for Amazon’s second North American headquarters.
....
Not surprisingly, all four sites peaked Amazon’s interest.
They include a Chicago River district where Tribune Media wants to build 15 office and residential towers; “The 78,” a 62-acre site at Roosevelt and Clark once owned by convicted felon Tony Rezko, where Gov. Bruce Rauner dreams of building an innovation center led by the University of Illinois; the Lincoln Yards site, which includes the old Finkl Steel plant among 100 acres along the river, and the Burnham Lakefront, an area that includes the old Michael Reese Hospital site.
“These are not developer giveaways. These are huge parcels that will create jobs, opportunity, affordable housing. None of them will create any value if we can’t solve the infrastructure problems,” Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman said Tuesday without mentioning the Amazon sweepstakes.
....