Saturday, June 18, 2022 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews
About five months after the Bellwood village board voted in favor of a redevelopment agreement outlining the construction of a four-story, 80-unit senior citizen apartment building at 540 25th Ave. in Bellwood, the village will host a groundbreaking for the project.
The groundbreaking event will take place Tuesday, June 23, 10 a.m., on the site of the Washington Boulevard property. Earlier this month, construction crews started the process of demolishing the Walgreens store that had been abandoned on the property for nearly a decade.
As Village Free Press previously reported, the project is being developed by Evergreen Real Estate Group.
The village donated the land on which the Walgreens sits to Evergreen. Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey said the village will also loan Evergreen $10 million from funds available in the Bellwood – Addison Creek Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district.
“Since the property is in a TIF district, we can make that loan and get paid back, so we are not really giving up anything,” Harvey said. “For us, that puts a piece of blighted land back on the tax rolls and increases our tax base.”
Community members who attend the groundbreaking are encouraged to wear appropriate footwear, since the event will be on a construction site. Attendees should enter the property along Washington Boulevard for parking immediately west of the site, event planners said.
The groundbreaking will also be live-streamed and available for replay on the Evergreen Real Estate Group’s Facebook page, planners said.
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