Chicago has always been a city defined by reinvention. From the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire came the world-renowned skyline we see today. Ours is a legacy of resilience and bold action. The pandemic tested that spirit as it changed the nature of the central business district. As Chicagoans, we need to respond.
At the heart of this vision needs to be investment, both public and private. At the City Club’s Jan. 14 luncheon and in an opinion piece in the Tribune, Lou Raizin brought forth the “cultural stadium,” a bold transformative idea. This innovative idea goes beyond traditional notions of urban development. It’s a vision for a flexible, multi-use cultural hub — a dynamic concept that merges live performance, community engagement and economic opportunity. Such a bold plan signals to the world, once again, that Chicago’s transformation is not a fluke — it’s in our DNA.
In a recent Tribune column, Laura Washington, paints a grim portrait of our city center. She describes downtown as “dark, scary and obsolescent,” a place that has lost the luster and vibrancy that defined Chicago. Washington’s reflection on the Palmer House, a crown jewel of Chicago’s hotel landscape, is particularly telling: “The grand old hotel seems lost to the world. Its environs are a decrepit ghost town,” she laments. Although we would like to think otherwise or maybe even pretend the problem does not exist, assertions such as those are hard to dispute. These observations are not Washington’s alone. We all see it, we all live it, and we all understand that a course correction is desperately needed.
Let’s then get to work. Beginning with public investment, Chicago can look at property tax tools as a starting place, specifically property tax financing mechanisms. Originally designated in 1984 and expanded in 1997, the Central Loop tax increment finance (TIF) district catalyzed the redevelopment of downtown. According to its 1997 eligibility study, it outlined specific tasks to make the redevelopment of the central business district a reality. One specific expenditure category in the study was the designation of $74.5 million for the rehabilitation of theaters. Where bold plans fail is when the anchors of those plans are afterthoughts rather than their North stars.
In addition to TIFs, Cook County’s property tax system also has tax incentives for commercial investments. Existing property tax financing and incentive mechanisms can be modified to better channel investment to cultural institutions. Creating a tax mechanism to bring in private investment is not about picking one tax structure over another.
With a nod to Raizin’s visionary plan, it is about working with all the tools available to us and coming up with a reasonable and sustainable plan. Sometimes, property tax tools used in the past need to be modified to meet the new ideas of the present, which then lead to our future.
To be clear, the Central Loop TIF was not about public expenditures in a vacuum. It was designed to foster private investment through the leverage of public dollars. In the 2008 Central Loop TIF annual report, there is an accounting of private and public investment. For example, the Goodman Theatre used approximately $18.5 million in TIF funds, while $40.8 million came from private investment, a 2.2-to-1 ratio of private/public investment. In another example, the Chicago Symphony used approximately $2.5 million in TIF funds, while $64.5 million came from private investment, a 25.8-to-1 ratio of private/public investment.
Past success stories, such as Millennium Park referenced in the City Club discussion, show that when the public and private sectors collaborate on public projects, great results happen.
History is our guide. Bold initiatives propelled us into an era of architectural greatness and, to Raizin’s point continue to make us a destination.
If we develop a resilient property tax financing structure and the public and private sectors work collaboratively, then a transformative idea like the “cultural stadium” becomes a reality.
George Cardenas is a Cook County Board of Review commissioner who represents the 1st District and is a former member of the Chicago City Council.
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