At the village board meeting Tuesday, April 11, village trustees joined by Mayor Hofeld approved the release of a $20,000 mortgage to facilitate sale and redevelopment of the vacant commercial property at 18027-18029 Dixie Highway formerly occupied by Vice District Brewery.
Through the arrangement, Chase Bank agrees to release its mortgage against the property in exchange for receiving 100% of the sale proceeds, which is approximately $85,000 after payment of all property taxes and closing costs. The release of the mortgage will allow someone else to purchase and re-occupy a commercial building located on one of the main thoroughfares in downtown Homewood.
The previous business, Vice District Brewery, struggled to open and went through many obstacles since it was announced back in 2018. Owner Curtis Tarver II expressed displeasure and criticized some of the policies and regulations the brewery had to fight through.
“We are eternally grateful for the support of the Homewood community and look forward to selling the building so hopefully a more ideal partner is able to come in and work with the village,” Tarver said back in December 2019.
It appears an ideal partner is waiting in the wings.
Kwan Pil Kim has offered $360,000 to purchase the property in order to open a martial arts academy on the site. He has four other locations of the Woori Taekwondo & Hapkido Academy in the area.
The former Vice District property is in disrepair and has been vacant for three years.
The purchase of the property will likely benefit the community by restoring a vacant property as an active business that will bring additional people to downtown who would frequent the local restaurants and stores, according to village officials.