The 134,000-sf Home Depot will include a landscaped parking deck on top of the building, a concept seldom seen so far in this market. "We're seeing it in several areas of the city," says Department of Planning and Development project manager Steve Patterson.

Home Depot is buying the 5.2-acre site from Buffalo Grove-based River West Plaza Chicago LLC, which acquired the property for $7.7 million in 2000. The site is smaller than the typical Home Depot, and site preparation costs also are higher than the retailer is used to paying, Patterson notes.

The proposal is at least the third for the site, Patterson reports, with previous ideas tied to TIF requests of $19 million and $12 million. The Home Depot project would not be viable without the TIF assistance, he adds.

"It's a good deal all the way around," Patterson says.

The property generates $119,000 in real estate taxes, Patterson says, which is expected to grow to $920,000 a year by 2006. In addition to $13 million in additional property taxes during the life of the TIF, the Home Depot is expected to generate $112 million in sales tax revenue by 2024.

The store is expected to draw shoppers from the nearby Bridgeport neighborhood to the south, the longtime cradle of Chicago mayors as well as home for many city hall workers. Patterson notes he sees fellow city hall workers at Home Depot stores in the suburbs of Bridgeview and Countryside.