ELMWOOD, IL-The village of Elmwood filed suit on Thursday to force CenterPoint Properties to divulge how it spent tax incremental financing granted for its Deer Run industrial project here.

The village filed a lawsuit on Thursday in Cook County against CenterPoint Intermodal to force the Oak Brook, IL-based firm to divulge how it spent the tax incremental finance funds, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Elwood officials agreed to assist CenterPoint in developing a 1,820-acre site on the former Joliet Arsenal property 12 years ago with $150 million in tax dollars via a tax increment financing district.

Village officials contend the new development and job creations are not what the developer had envisioned.

CenterPoint officials released a statement Thursday afternoon that characterized the lawsuit as “baseless and counterproductive.”

“CenterPoint is disappointed and surprised at Elwood's decision to file this suit,” the statement states. “CenterPoint took an abandoned Superfund site and, with the help of many others, turned it into one of the most successful transportation hubs for global commerce. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of economic benefit have resulted from this project, and Elwood has been the beneficiary in multiple ways.

“Any funds we have received under the TIF program were a fraction of the moneys we spent on the project and were only lawful reimbursement for investments made by us,” the statement says. See story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

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Elmwood Sues CenterPoint Over Public Funding Info on Project

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