Abt Electronics To Expand In Glenview If Tax Incentive Granted

GLENVIEW, IL — Village staff recommended the Glenview Village Board Tuesday endorse a third Cook County property tax incentive to Abt Electronics to allow it to embark on a $20 million expansion.

Trustees last month approved an ordinance allowing for a 365,000-square-foot warehouse expansion, a new 27,000-square-foot recycling center, a fuel station, service road, an electronic message sign and an expanded retention pond on the southwest side of Abt's facility at 1200 N. Milwaukee Avenue.

According to a memo from Annie Reed, an attorney for Abt, the company is considering expanding in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, instead. The company estimates the project will create 60 new, full-time permanent jobs within the first two years and another 60 over the next three years.

"If the 6b [Cook County property tax incentive] is not granted, Abt will likely use the Aon site for parking and pursue construction of a new warehouse and distribution facility in Wisconsin," Reed said, in an August 2018 letter to Glenview Planning Manager Jeff Rogers.

The Cook County program is aimed at encouraging industrial development, rehabbing industrial buildings and reusing structures that have been vacant for more than two years. The 12-year incentive reduces a property's assessed value from 25 percent to 10 percent of its estimated market value for the first decade, before increasing to 15 and then 20 percent in its final two years.

In 2014 and 2018, Abt received 6b incentives for earlier warehouse additions, which will not be affected by the the second warehouse expansion project, according to a memo to the village board from Director of Community Development Jeff Brady. It said Abt agreed not to ask for an extension to the incentive after it expires in 12 years and leaders from other local taxing bodies did not object to the incentive.

The project includes the 33-acre site of the former Zenith and Aon office building, which was purchased by Abt in December 2017. The former owner of the building had been at risk of default after Aon's lease expired earlier that year, according to Crain's Chicago Business. According to the Glenview Journal, Abt began demolition of the building in October 2018.

Earlier:

• Tax Break Approved For Abt Electronics Warehouse Expansion
• Abt Adds 100,000 Square Feet To Warehouse