Village Board May Go After Delinquent Developer

The may soon take the unusual step of going after a delinquent development company by placing a lien on property it owns.

TCB Development, based in Tinley Park, owes the village $40,568.59. That amount has been on the village books since 2008, when TCB halted plans to build an industrial park on about 170 acres of land between the two sections of Knell Road and north of the VVF plant on Aucutt Road.

According to Senior Planner Michael Brown, the TCB proposal would have seen a large industrial distribution center, with about five buildings, and an extension from Knell Road to Orchard Road. TCB acquired the property from CenterPoint Properties of Oak Brook, who had similar plans that never came to fruition, Brown said.

TCB Development brought their project through the village planning process, obtaining a special use in July of 2007 from the plan commission and working their way up to a final approval in August of 2008. And that’s where it stopped, Brown said. The company never recorded its final plat for the project, according to Brown.

The national economic downturn, which was in full swing by that time, had a lot to do with the company’s decision, Brown said.

“They just didn’t have tenants available to take up the spaces,” he said. “A lot of others were the same way.”

However, when TCB walked away, they did so owing the village for the planning process they’d just completed. Village Manager Anne Marie Gaura said the bulk of the $40,568 owed comes from engineering fees, for which the village was a conduit. Village staff sent TCB’s plans to outside consultants, paid those consultants for their services, and then billed TCB, but did not receive payments in turn.

TCB did pay a deposit of $20,000, Gaura said, but that will cover only about half the cost of the fees owed.

At last week’s finance committee meeting, village trustees agreed to recommend using that deposit against the balance owed, and placing a lien against the property for the rest. To Gaura’s knowledge, this is the first time the board has moved in this direction against a developer in her 11 years with the village.

However, the question is, what happens if TCB sells the land? Gaura said she is uncertain whether the lien would stick a new owner with a $20,000 bill, something that might discourage developers from looking at that property in the future.

The Finance Committee plans to make a formal recommendation to the full Village Board this month. The board must then vote on a course of action, which might include taking the company to court. But Village Attorney Steve Andersson has cautioned the board to weigh the cost of a court battle against the likelihood of getting the money owed.