CHICAGO—Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot introduced to the City Council on Wednesday proposed tax incentives for three industrial and commercial redevelopment projects in the South and Southwest sides of the city as well as landmark status for several storied properties.

The mayor has proposed a Class 6 (b) tax incentive to support the $3.9-million rehabilitation of an 84,174-square-foot industrial building in the Stockyard Industrial Corridor by Griffith Foods Inc., which makes customized seasonings, coatings, and sauces for the food industry.

The work at the 4300 S. Morgan St. property would include improvements to the building's electric, mechanical and HVAC systems and enable the hiring of up to 12 new positions. The company would also relocate a portion of its operations from Canada over the next two years. Tax savings over the 12-year period are estimated at $560,000.

A Class 6 (b) incentive would support the $850,000 acquisition and rehabilitation of eight adjacent industrial buildings in Washington Heights by Sangamon Industrial LLC. The work would include upgrades to the buildings' facades, roofs, windows, mechanical systems and office spaces, and help seven existing tenants to add 90 new positions to 115 current positions. Savings over the 12-year period are estimated at $2.1 million.

The third proposed Class 6 (b) tax incentive would enable the $1.3-million rehabilitation of a Brighton Park Industrial Corridor building at 2847 W. 47th Place for continued use as a custom furniture factory. The renovations to the 40,000-square-foot facility would include improvements to its roof and façade that would enable Gentner Fabrication Inc. to retain 19 jobs and add 10 new positions. Tax savings over the 12-year period are estimated at $443,000.

The mayor has also proposed the City Council grant landmark status to the Claremont Cottage District, a collection of 19 Queen Anne-style worker cottages on the Near West Side.

Built in the late1800s within the Tri-Taylor portion of the community, the "Claremont Cottages" on the 1000 block of south Claremont Avenue are distinctive for their high gabled roofs, overhanging eaves, carved wood brackets, oriel windows, patterned brick, carved stone, and colored glass, according to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, which recommended the designation in October.

The 1.5-story structures were conceived and built as a speculative development by developers Turner and Bond based on a design catalog attributed to Chicago architect Cicero Hine. The designation would protect the properties' external features, including the rooflines, from significant alteration or demolition.

The mayor also asked the City Council landmark status be granted for the Mies van der Rohe's Promontory Apartments in Hyde Park.

Built in 1949 at 5530-32 S. Shore Drive, the 22-story high-rise designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's is among the country's first examples of the International Style of architecture. The building's simple, "less is more" design and materials forgo traditional stylistic forms and ornamentation in favor of exposed concrete columns and beams, brick and glass walls and a glass-walled lobby, the mayor states.

Developed by Herb Greenwald, the building was the first high-rise residential buildings to be constructed in Chicago since the start of the Great Depression. The landmark designation, which was recommended by the Landmarks Commission in October, would protect the building's exteriors and lobby from significant alteration or demolition.

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Mayor Lightfoot Proposes Tax Incentives for Three Commercial, Industrial Projects

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