NEWS - Wirtz Beverage
Lexington seeing benefits of Wirtz project |
LEXINGTONIANS upset about Wirtz project
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September 20, 2013 6:00 am • By Mary Ann Ford | [email protected]
LEXINGTON — Work on a Wirtz Beverage Illinois’ $8 million warehouse and distribution center at P.J. Keller Highway and Interstate 55 won’t be done until the spring but Lexington already is seeing the trickle-down effects of the project. The Lexington Planning Commission recently recommended a plan for a 24-lot subdivision — the first subdivision the city has considered since about 1996, according to Mayor John Mohr. The proposal will go to the City Council for consideration on Oct. 14. “It (the Wirtz project) gives optimism,” said Bruce Klein, developer of the subdivision. “When you take on a risk like a subdivision in a small town, demand for the project is a hard thing to measure. They say it (the Wirtz project) will bring 75 employees; if we can just get 12 of them, that’s half the subdivision.” Klein, who also is president of the Lexington School Board, decided to pursue the subdivision hoping it might bring more kids into the school district — making the district more cost efficient. “We’ve got the room,” he said, noting the same space served about 600 students a few years ago. The district now has about 500 students. If all goes as planned, Klein said lots in Trail Ridge subdivi-sion at 420 S. Spencer St., will be available in April or May. Spring also is the target completion date for the Wirtz facility, said Julia Sznewajs, spokeswoman for Wirtz Corp./Wirtz Realty. “The steel is in place and the project is on schedule and budget,” Sznewajs said. “The roof will be going on in the next month or so.” Sznewajs said the facility likely will be brought online in two phases: the 35,000-square-foot, 20-truck-dock warehouse likely being the first to open; the 15,000-square-foot office space, the second. Wirtz Beverage Illinois will be closing its Peoria warehouse and relocating jobs to the Lexington facility. The company opened a new distribution center in Cicero — straight up Interstate 55 — in 2011. |
September 2, 2014 • By Kasey Wells
LEXINGTON — The Lexington High School, The Lexington Community Fire Department, The Lexington Public Library, and The Lexington Park District are not seeing any of the benefits of the Wirtz Project. Due to the way the City of Lexington and TIF Illinois established the The Lexington TIF District I redevelopment plan The City of Lexington are the only taxing body reaping the benefits from the Witrz project. The rest of the taxing bodies were locked out of the increase in tax value the Wirtz Warehouse brought to the area.
2010 Before Wirtz came to town the 5 acres, were it's Warehouse is currently located was all farm land. Farmland that had an annual tax value of $100 per acre. All of the taxing bodies, listed in the image below, received the corresponding tax percentages from that land. 2011 The EDC, TIF Illinois, and JOHN MOHR work together to establish a Second Amendment to The Lexington TIF District I. 2012 "Wirtz will be responsible for building a road to its buildings, which will be about 800 feet from Interstate 55, MOHR said." Chipparoni said the split will be 75 percent for the company and 25 percent for Lexington. How redevelopment works.
How TIF districts work. In 2011 - 2012 Mayor JOHN MOHR, TIF Illinois, and the ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP work together to design a plan. Only 1 LEXINGTONIAN hired at Wirtz. Several local businesses are not getting any TIF assistance. Wirtz and JOHN MOHR sign a $2.4 million TIF contract. EDC affiliates make out like bandits in the development contract. |