Business & Tech
Cheap Gas Is Coming To Niles; Costco Buys Vacant 4.5 Acre Site For Pumps
The benefit to Niles: cheap gas for Costco members, and more sales tax revenue if Costco sells part of the land to another retailer. Also, the gas pumps may attract increased business to the Costco store.
At every Costco store in Illinois besides the Niles store, people who have a store membership can buy gas for a few cents less than the going rate.
Now, the Niles store will be able to offer that, too.
And as part of the deal, the long vacant 4.5 acre Landmark Ford site on Touhy Avenue, next to the Leaning Tower, would come back to life.
At Tuesday's Niles village board meeting, trustees approved a deal in which Costco would purchase the entire 4.5 acre site--the seller would not divide it--and Costco would install gas pumps on about two acres and re-sell the remaining 2.5 acres.
As part of that deal, Costco does not have to pay the village sales tax revenue from gasoline sales until they hit $3 million in sales or 20 years passes, whichever comes first. After that benchmark, the village of Niles would collect sales tax revenue from gasoline.
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Niles Economic Development Specialist Ross Klicker said Costco is already in negotiations with a potential user to buy the 2.5 acre parcel. However, if Costco were unable to sell it after 20 years, which Klicker said is very unlikely, then the terms of the deal would shift, and Costco would not have to pay the village any gasoline sales tax revenue until they hit $5.5 million in gasoline sales, and the ownership of the 2.5 acre parcel would revert to the village.
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The deal has two key benefits for the village. It keeps Costco, and the substantial $1.8 million in sales tax revenue it pays to the village, in Niles. (Costco will still pay the village sales tax revenue from store sales.)
Earlier: Niles To Save Costco Store And $1.8 Million In Revenue
Second, since the gas pumps may draw even more customers to Costco, Costco's store sales could increase and it could end up paying even more than $1.8 million in sales tax revenue to Niles.
Residents will likely see construction crews breaking ground on the gas pump project, at Touhy and Melvina, in the spring, Klicker said. The construction should take about six months, and the pumps should be operating by September.
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