Kaufman's Deli Strikes TIF Deal with Village
Kaufman's closed after a devastating fire back in November. The deli recently got a hand from the village and now hopes to reopen this September.
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After a devastating fire that left the iconic Skokie deli known as Kaufman’s inoperable, many wondered if the sandwich shop would ever reopen.
However, thanks to the latest batch of TIF grants handed out earlier this week by the Skokie Village Board, Kaufman’s is coming back to town.
The village board handed out a $150,000 grant to Bette Dworkin, owner of Kaufman’s, as she continues her pursuit of rebuilding the Skokie destination that’s been here for generations. The money specifically comes from the West Dempster TIF District that was created in November 2010.
Skokie Community Development Director Tom Thompson explained how the procedure would work in an e-mail to Patch stating that Dworkin will take on and pay for the rehabilitation expenses at first.
“Once reopened, if she can prove at least $300,000 of qualified expenses relative to the exterior of the building, site improvements, and building expansion (which we are confident she will be able to), she will receive a TIF reimbursement of $150,000,” Thompson said. “If less than $300K, then 50% of whatever the amount is.”
Last month, Patch was the first to report Dworkin had decided to rebuild on the same Dempster Street location after pondering a move west to Morton Grove. This new store is scheduled to be 1,500 square feet larger than the previous incarnation with many modern amenities, including having only one checkout area.
This matching grant will be a small portion of the million plus dollars Dworkin estimates will be spent to get the bakery and deli back in operation.
Dworkin noted construction continues at the new store and hopes to have can welcome customers in person by Rosh Hashanah, which lands on Sept. 16.
Dworkin’s commitment to Skokie was emphasized Monday night.
“This is a salute to Bette Dworkin and her mom that they felt Skokie was the heart and soul of their wonderful establishment and they were going to find a way to make it work,” said trustee Michael Lorge, who has been working with Dworkin on the project. “We’re very excited.”
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Hank
8:02 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Skokie is great at wasting money. This is not what TIF money is to be used for. This is our tax money. TIF districts are used to restore a blighted area and turn the ENTIRE area into something better than it was. The ideal goal is to attract a major developer to improve the whole TIF district. Not to improve the property of just one business whos property would have been restored by his own insurance. Now lets suppose that a developer wants to build a large shopping center or a large store in that area. Now it can't be done because one building may be in the way of the larger complex. So now we are back to building the same exact thing with very similar stores that were there in the first place. The other alternative would be to use eminent domain and buy the building back (more TIF money wasted). So what is the purpose of the TIF? If the old buildings were just unattractive we could have simply put new facades on them.
Sarah
8:17 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Of course she is staying Morton Grove didn't give her 150,000 grant. doesn't she have insurance that she is taking this money that could be used for something better.
jobu
11:05 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
She does have insurance. The village however wants to make the building and neighborhood more modern looking to attract developers. i.e. oberwiess and the burger joint moving in down thew street. By agreeing to take the TIF and expand the reconstruction beyond repairing the building to original, The village expedited the permit process. If she did not take the TIF she would probably still be waiting for approval for reconstruction.
Earl Weiss
11:11 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
First and formost I am opposed to TIFS. That being said, the area is blighted. Biggest cause was Skokie exacerbating the hostile tax environment by charging property owners for Dempster Street mainrenance and the irresposnible tax and spending of the school districts. For years Kaufman's generated real estate tax and Sales tax revenue for Skokie, so it's time existing businesses get something back instead of handouts for only Newbies like Oberwies and a kick in the pants for existing businesses. I'd rather see someone like Kaufman's get $150K which might be returned via tax revenues over time as opposed to Skokie blowing $1 million on Oberweis never to be recouped or $20 Million +++ on the Swift Station that is also poor fiscal policy. We will never see a return on that .
AP
11:37 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Speaking of Oberweiss and the Burger Joynt, that deal must have gone south since construction has never been started.
david
5:04 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2012
AP-
Take a drive by, they broke ground last week. Dempster is still the shadow of a business district it used to be. Sad that they had to kick out the muffler shop to allow corporate entities like Oberweis, with the empty BArnum and Bagel a block away and much more accessible to traffic patterns in that crowded intersection.
Randy Miles
10:52 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I applaud the Village for helping an independent merchant to reopen thier store. This is exactly what the tif is there for. You rebuild a blighted area 1 business at a time. To give seed money to a wealthy developer so they can make millions on a deal is not what the tif is for. We need to continue to redevelop Dempster St. and Downtown - without the tif money none of this would be happening!!!
Judith
7:38 pm on Saturday, September 22, 2012
Thank you, Randy, I agree 100%. Kaufman's has been a Skokie landmark. The deli across the street from Kaufman's was strictly kosher (Tel Aviv, then it became Chaim's) and it closed due to a change in demographics. Now, with the new Kaufman's opening (soon, I hope - target date was September 2012 and September's almost over!), it will bring a lot of people who miss Kaufman's back into the area. IMO it could be called the downtown Dempster flagship store!