Village targets old site again
Talks begin anew over acquiring former mental health center property
About two years after talks stalled on Tinley Park’s efforts to acquire from Illinois a long-shuttered mental health hospital, negotiations are resuming, according to village and state officials.
The village has sought to buy the former 280-acre Tinley Park Mental Health Center and adjacent Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park.
The ultimate goal of redeveloping it carries a multimillion-dollar price tag to remedy environmental hazards on the site, and it is not clear how much it might cost the village to obtain the property, northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street.
The Illinois Department of Central Management Services controls the property, and it was most recently considered for a combination casino and harness racing track, a use that is still viable, according to village manager Pat Carr.
Anthony Pascente, chief of staff for CMS, said Friday the agency and the village are in discussions regarding the property and potential transfer of ownership.
“What we’re trying to do is start over. There is a willingness on both sides to get this done,” Carr said.
Lobbying contracts
The village has awarded two contracts too Washington-based lobbying firm Cornerstone Government Affairs.
One contract, worth $71,500 over 11 months, will have the firm assist the village in acquiring the site.
Carr said the money will come from taxes generated in a tax increment financing district the village established in July 2015. The TIF district includes the stateowned property as well as adjacent industrial buildings to the north on Duvan Drive and properties to the west.
A second contract, worth $11,000, has Cornerstone assisting with navigating various state agencies regarding issues such as gambling and the horse racing industry, Carr said.
Cornerstone isn’t duplicating lobbying work done on more general issues involving the Illinois General Assembly conducted for the village by the Rory Group, he said.
In 2015, Tinley Park planned to pay the state its asking price of $4.16 million for the property, but backed away from the purchase. In May 2019, the state offered to sell it to the village for $4.5 million, and the village indicated it was agreeable but negotiations did not proceed.
One proposal for redevelopment included more than 400 single-family homes described as activeadult, age-restricted housing targeting buyers 55 and older, as well as a 200-unit luxury senior apartment building.
Village officials have said they don’t see housing as the ideal use of the property, preferring entertainment options that could generate substantial property tax and sales tax revenue to complement Tinley Park’s outdoor music theater, the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre.
Before agreeing to move ahead with negotiations, state officials want a clear plan on Tinley Park plans, Carr said.
The 2019 expansion of gambling in Illinois allowed for a combination casino and harness racing track in the south suburbs, separate from a license for a land-based casino that state gaming regulators are considering.
A racino had been proposed for part of the state property and Carr said that remains a potential use, although no plans have yet been finalized.
The state legislature would have to approve the sale or transfer of the site to the village, Carr said.
Environmental problems
In 2014, a consultant working for the village conducted a detailed inspection of the property, citing asbestos, an abandoned sewage treatment plant and leaking underground storage tanks.
An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency report, following a December 2019 inspection, found containers of known, as well as unknown, materials scattered around the property.
Inside the hospital’s power plant were about 30 metal and plastic drums, most of which are not labeled while others are labeled as containing used oil, according to the state examination.
In another building there were dozens of cans of paint thinner. Some barrels, the contents of which are not known, have been dumped in areas of the property, according to the report.
Nancy O’Connor, a resident who lives near the former hospital and whose complaints to the state about the property’s condition helped bring out the IEPA, said she is encouraged discussions have resumed.
“Gosh, I hope they’re successful,” she said Friday. “I hope CMS and the state are open to listening.”
She said it has been discouraging watching the property decay over the years and the potential for environmental problems, such as contaminated water, to spread to adjacent areas.
“I live right there and I go by it all the time,” O’Connor said.
An estimate made several years ago put the cost of remediating the site’s environmental issues and razing dozens of buildings on the property at $12.4 million. Village officials expect that the cost has risen substantially.
“The longer it sits the more expensive it gets,” O’Connor said.
Tinley Park’s budget for the fiscal year that began May 1 includes $7.5 million set aside to buy and remediate the property for potential redevelopment.
TIF money can also be used to acquire the property, raze buildings and for environmental cleanup. At the end of the village’s 2020 fiscal year, the TIF fund had just under $262,590 available, according to the village.