Skitch Electric Co. will relocate its new headquarters to Elgin from Streamwood if the company constructing its building can secure a Cook County tax break.
LIAB Investments is planning the 14,100-square-foot building for the northwest corner of Villa Street and Shales Parkway if it can secure a class 6b tax incentive, the application for which received a resolution of support from the Elgin City Council at its Wednesday night meeting.
“This is an exciting proposition for a long-underdeveloped property,” City Manager Rick Kozal said.
According to the Cook County Assessor’s Office website, the incentive offers a real estate tax break for “the development of new industrial facilities, the rehabilitation of existing industrial structures and the industrial reutilization of abandoned buildings.”
If all goes to plan, Skitch will move its 19 employees to the new building and add another five to eight full-time people to its staff, Kozal said.
Cook County will decide whether to grant the incentive, which will cut the 1.7-acre parcel’s market value tax assessment level from 25% to 10% over the first 10 years of a 12-year period, city officials said. The assessment will gradually escalate over the last two years unless the company reapplies to the program and receives an extension.
Kozal said the estimated Cook County taxes generated would be about $410,000. Without the incentive, the tax bill would be $920,000, he said.
City Councilman John Steffen noted that if the property was in Kane County, the taxes generated would be $350,000 for that same period.
“We are still getting more from this Cook County development than if it would have relocated to Kane County,” Steffen said.
Beyond that, it will help develop a site that’s been vacant for years, officials said. In its current state, it generates about $91,000 in property taxes.
LIAB Investments is under contract to purchase the land, which was part of more than 100 acres annexed and zoned for manufacturing in 1966, according to city documents. It was created as the 1979 Schroeder Industrial Park subdivision, which was to have 60 lots but ultimately was never developed.
Skitch, a full-service electrical contracting firm that handles commercial and industrial projects, has been in business for 60 years. It’s planning to use 10,800 square feet of the property for warehouse space and the remaining 3,330 square feet for offices.
They are not the first company to seek the city’s blessing for a Cook County class 6b tax incentive. Elgin Sweeper did the same thing in 2021 so that it did not need to move out of the city to a new location.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
