Homewood officials have approved a new tax increment financing district that takes in property along the Halsted Street commercial corridor and includes the vacant Walmart property, empty for nearly two years.

Using increases in property tax revenue, the village hopes to spur redevelopment in that area of the community, which includes commercial businesses as well as empty office space at the northwest corner of Halsted and Ridge Road.

TIF districts can use property tax money generated within the TIF to pay for public improvements and offer incentives to spur development. The new district was approved by the Village Board on Tuesday.

To qualify for TIF designation, an area has to generally be considered “blighted,” with properties in disrepair and having declining property tax value.

Called the North Halsted TIF, the property takes in 236 acres, with 175th Street on the north, Ridge Road on the south, Halsted on the east and Ashland Avenue on the west.

It is south of the Wind Creek Southland Casino. The casino itself is in East Hazel Crest while adjacent parking garages south of the casino are in Homewood.

Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said, apart from the Walmart property at the southwest corner of Halsted and 175th, there is vacant, mold-ridden office space at Halsted and Ridge that could benefit from TIF money for redevelopment.

The new TIF will also take in the Izaak Walton Preserve, west of Halsted between Ridge and 175th.

A longer range plan for the Izaak Walton property includes dredging of lakes on the property, where TIF money could be used, or for improvements such as repairing or replacing bridges that cross the lakes, Hofeld said Thursday.

Filling the vacant Walmart space is a key goal with establishing the TIF, Hofeld said, and the village has been talking with developers about potential reuse of the space.The retailer informed the village in February 2023 the store would close because it was not meeting the company’s financial expectations, and it closed that March.

The village said at the time Walmart had “been one of Homewood’s largest revenue producing stores for years” and served customers not only from Homewood but from East Hazel Crest, Glenwood and Thornton.

Hofeld said Friday the property, which includes a gas station, is still owned by a trust controlled by Walmart, and said the age of the building and how far it is set back from Halsted are hampering uses.

“All retailers want frontage” closer to the street, Hofeld said.

The space is just under 190,000 square feet, and it’s possible it could be divided for other uses, but Hofeld said that demolishing it and building new is also an option.

“It’s a huge space and it’s 30-something years old,” the mayor said. “Can it be reused?”

The Walmart was previously a Kmart Supercenter, but that closed in December 2013 and Walmart opened in fall 2016.

Approval of the North Halsted TIF comes as the village is also advancing plans for another tax increment financing district in the downtown area, near the Metra Electric Line station.

Properties that would be part of that TIF include a village-owned office building and Village Hall, including a parking lot the village sees as being developed for apartments.

A public hearing on the proposed TIF is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 11 at Village Hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.

The boundaries of that TIF would be the Dixie Highway viaduct on the north, Ridge Road on the south, Dixie on the east and Harwood Avenue on the west.

For the new North Halsted TIF, other taxing bodies, including local school districts, signed off on the idea after a meeting last month. Other taxing bodies don’t see benefits from increased property values and increased property tax revenue during the duration of a TIF, which can be up to 23 years.

With multiple TIFs already in the village, Hofeld has, in the past, been taken to task for the village giving up property tax revenue for development.

For his part, the mayor cites one of Homewood’s first TIF districts, which took in properties along Halsted when the former Washington Square Mall was largely vacant and retail properties on the west side of Halsted, such as the former Venture store property, were empty.

“What people forget is when we first developed Halsted, the property values shot right up,” Hofeld said.