units in the condominium through the county’s No Cash Bid program in order to help return the properties to productive use.
(Eric Crump photos/H-F Chronicle)
At its Nov. 20 meeting, the Flossmoor Board of Trustees voted to apply to Cook County’s No Cash Bid program in an effort to help return a business condominium to full use.
The two buildings in the Flossmoor Office Center at 1835 Dixie Highway currently have five tenants who are not behind on their taxes. The condominium has a total of 16 units.
Director of Building and Zoning Scott Bugner told the board the cost for the remaining tenants to acquire the property through a regular tax sale would be about $687,000, which would make redevelopment unlikely.
In addition to the tax liabilities, the two buildings on the site need renovation, Bugner said.
The No Cash Bid program helps municipalities acquire tax delinquent properties in order to make them feasible for redevelopment and return to the tax rolls.
Bugner said the village would seek to acquire the 11 tax delinquent units of the office center and, if successful, would then convey the properties to the five remaining tenants for redevelopment.
Trustee Rosalind Mustafa asked whether there are liens on the properties and whether the remaining tenants have made redevelopment plans.
Village Manager Bridget Wachtel said liens would be removed by the No Cash Bid process, and Bugner said redevelopment plans are uncertain at the moment. He said the No Cash Bid process can take one to two years to complete.
“We’d be stepping in to help essentially save the properties,” Wachtel said. “The purpose of the agreement with the remaining five would be to turn those properties over to the remaining five units for their purposes of trying to get them reoccupied. Without this, it is cost prohibitive.”
Trustee Jim Mitros said the risk for the village if the delinquent condos aren’t saved is that all the property owners could walk away.
“We would just have an abandoned condo there,” he said. “That’s the biggest risk here. To get it back on the tax rolls would be our goal.”
Wachtel said the village should not incur any costs by acquiring the properties. She said an agreement in the works with the remaining tenants would require them to cover any village expenses such as attorney or filing fees.
