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Fortune 100 company eyes DeKalb By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A top company is examining the city as a possible location for a 987,000-square-foot facility that would bring about 300 jobs to the area and more than $1 million in tax revenue. Known only as Project Black Bear, a Fortune 100 logistics company is considering either a site in Park 88 in DeKalb or a location in the Southeastern United States for expansion. Because of a nondisclosure agreement, the name of the company will not be released until later this month.
If you go n WHERE: Park 88 n WHAT: 987,000 square-foot
building to be constructed n EMPLOYMENT: 300 full- and part-time jobs n TAX REVENUE: An estimated $1.3 million for DeKalb County
If the company chooses DeKalb, it would be the largest building since the 1.5 million square-foot Target distribution center was built in 2006, and the first new building since 3M in 2011, according to Paul Borek, executive director of DeKalb County Economic
Development Corp. “This is a significant opportunity for DeKalb County and the city of DeKalb,” he said. As an added incentive, the DeKalb County Board o n W e d n e s - Paul Borek day approved a tax-abatement program for the project, which would be limited specifically to the project and cannot exceed 10 years after the completion of the facility, the resolution states. It would abate 90 percent of the taxes in the first full tax year, with the abatement decreas-
ing by 10 percent in each of the next years. The unnamed company would reimburse the county for the abated taxes if it failed to staff the building with at least 300 employees for 10 years from the time the building opens. A similar tax-abatement resolution goes before the DeKalb City Council at its next meeting Tuesday, Borek said. The project could generate an estimated $1.3 million for the county in additional tax revenue, Economic Development Chairman and County Board District 6 member Bob Brown said.
DeKalb park board, ComEd talk tree work
“It’s meeting one of our objectives, and that is to diversify our tax base to support county and governmental municipal services,” he said. “We’re very heavy on the side of residential property taxes. We’d like to bring more business to the county.” County Board Chairman Mark Pietrwoski, Jr., said he doesn’t like tax abatements – particularly for businesses already making a considerable amount – but said the measure was necessary for the county to compete with other prospective locations. “It’s a positive for the community if we can get it here,” Pietrowski said. “When a
Fortune 100 company decides to move to the community, it helps in recruiting other large companies. When you can announce you have a major corporation in your county, it helps with future economic development.” Brown said the new site would be a prime opportunity to showcase the amenities the county has to offer business, including a fiber-optic highway that stretches from the north and south end of the county. “We’re a proactive county in terms of seeking high-quality new businesses to join us as good neighbors,” Brown said. “The welcome mat is out.”
YMCA COMMUNITY AWARDS DINNER
ADA compliance, proposed amusement tax also on agenda By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A new ComEd representative met Thursday with the DeKalb Park District Board to discuss best practices going forward with power line and tree maintenance along park district trails. In 2012, crews hired by ComEd cut 1.3 miles of trees and brush along the park district Nature Trail between Sycamore Road and First Street. This year, ComEd representative George Gaulrapp said ComEd will work with the park district and its staff to keep lines of communication open. “We’re here to be very transparent. I know a few years back the tree trimming experience wasn’t a good one. … We’re here to work with everybody. … We want to be good corporate partners,” he said. The park district’s relationship with ComEd was just one item on the agenda. Board members also discussed the city’s proposed amusement tax and next steps on Americans with Disabilities Act compliance construction. Board member Keith Nyquist said he was cautiously optimistic about the district’s ability to reach an agreement with ComEd. as long as the company was willing to sit down and come up with a written agreement about future work on the trails. “I’m grateful we can have a public discussion before work begins this time, as opposed to after,” Nyquist said. Board members weren’t as optimistic about the city’s proposed amusement tax, however, including board member Dean Holliday. “It really sounds like they want to tax everything. Where does it stop? This seems like it would drive even more people away from DeKalb,” Holliday said. Executive director Jason Mangum said he was confident that city officials would include the park district in upcoming conversations about the proposed tax. “I think the understanding of how it would impact us and our operations would be important,” he said. Superintendent of Parks and Development Mat Emken gave an update on the park district ADA compliance construction at the meeting as well. ADA renovations are about 60 percent complete, he said. Some fixes are easier than others, such as adjusting mirror heights in restrooms, Emken said. Those easy fixes should be done this year. But it’s the bigger projects that require demolition and construction that will take longer to complete. The park district is now working with Lisa Sharp, of Sharp Architects to put together a plan. “This is the biggest chunk of stuff that didn’t get done,” Emken said. “It’s almost like everyone assumed we were going to rebuild the pool and it could wait. But we’re going to move forward,”
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Guest speaker Sean Swarner talks to the dinner guests about his life – surviving two unrelated, deadly cancers as a young teenager and then climbing Mount Everest in his adult life – at the annual YMCA Community Awards Dinner on Thursday at Faranda’s Banquet Center in DeKalb.
Travels of body and spirit YMCA awards speaker uses his story to inspire others By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com DeKALB – After Ohio native Sean Swarner survived cancer, he decided to climb Mount Everest. Since then, he has been saying there’s hope everywhere and miracles exist up and down every mountain. At the age of 13, Swarner was diagnosed with advanced stage four Hodgkin lymphoma and was given a few months to live. After being in remission for about a year, he was diagnosed with a second cancer. Swarner lost function in his right lung as a result of medically induced coma that he was in for a year of his life. “My story is about helping other people, because what I’ve done isn’t really relatable,” he said. “What is relatable are the struggles that I went through. ... Everybody has struggles in life, everybody has issues they have to overcome and frustrations they have on a daily basis. ... And knowing that you can get through those struggles, you can get help from other people and your support group like the Y and as a whole, you can collectively do anything you want.”
See YMCA, page A6
Sheryl Nakonechny (right) hugs Cindy Capek and accepts the 2015 Community Leader Award on Thursday at the YMCA Community Awards Dinner at Faranda’s Banquet Center in DeKalb.
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