Lakeland Hills subdivision annexation begins

Council members voted on the agreement of a prospective restaurant and the annexation of houses in the Lakeland Hills subdivision, during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The restaurant property, located at 309 E. Main St., has remained empty since Stadium Grille ceased operations and claimed bankruptcy in 2010. First Southern Bank now holds the property’s title and wishes to sell it to Park Ridge Midwest Realty, which will purchase and repurpose the space into a Bandana’s Bar-B-Q, a southern style barbecue restaurant chain.

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If a redevelopment agreement is reached between the buyer and the city, the buyer will be reimbursed by up to $330,622 after the initial purchase of the property.

The reimbursements would be made on an annual basis with the city paying 75% of the property tax increment created by the improvements made to the subject property, according to the City Council agenda. The agreement would terminate upon full payment of the $330,622 or expiration of the TIF district for the entire Redevelopment Project Area No. 1 in 2027.

Council member Jane Adams said she thinks Bandana’s would have a much better chance to succeed than Stadium Grille because it is already an established chain.

“It’s very difficult to manage a restaurant. You have to have a lot of skills, you have to have a lot of knowledge and you have to have the resources to make it through the first year,” Adams said. “The thing about a chain — a small regional chain — is that it has capital behind them.”

The council also talked about the annexation of the Lakeland Hills subdivision at the meeting, and some area residents are now considered full-fledged citizens of the city.

The annexation occurred because of an agreement made between the city and Lakeland Hills in 1997 when the owners of the subdivision said the area could be annexed into the city if Lakeland Hills was given a sewer system to replace its private septic systems.

Kevin Baity, city manager, said a sanitary sewer was installed in the subdivision. He said this gives the city the right to annex the area when it is contiguous with the city — or shares a common border with the city — which some of the houses now do.

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Councilman Don Monty said it’s time for the people located in Lakeland Hills to be annexed into the city because members of the subdivision now receive the same sewer services as the rest of the residents in the city.

“It’s time to go through with the annexation agreement,” Monty said. “They’ve got the benefit of the (sewer) services.”

The vote to annex the Lakeland Hills residents who have filed their petitions was passed unanimously.

After the vote was passed, all Lakeland Hills residents who filed their petitions and share a common border with the city began to receive residential benefits.

The remainder of the residents who have not filed their petitions will be given another notice of the change, Baity said, and if they do not turn in the petition afterward, legal action will be taken to obtain the signatures from the people in question.

In the Tuesday edition of the Daily Egyptian, the story “Council to talk Stadium Grille property redevelopment” should have said Park Ridge Midwest Realty, a buyer.

It also should have said Park Ridge Midwest Realty would purchase the property from First Southern Bank and the city would then reimburse the developer on an annual basis, paying 75 percent of the property tax increment created by the improvements that have been made to the subject property. These reimbursements will be paid in full when the developer receives $330,662 total, or expiration of tax increment financing for the entire Redevelopment Project Area No. 1 has taken place.

The story should have said residents who petition and annex and are contiguous with the city will immediately begin to receive city services. The Daily Egyptian regrets these errors.