Illinois Business Journal Illinois Business Journal
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Target development off and running; Wal-Mart projects fight litigation
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   While real estate developers THF Realty and Koman Properties Inc. are battling lawsuits to build new shopping centers in Belleville and Collinsville, The DESCO Group is enjoying clear sailing with its Belleville Crossing project on Illinois Rte. 15 in Belleville. The difference doesn't lie with the developers, but with the anchor stores they have chosen.
   While litigation is still churning, THF and Koman are in the midst of construction on their projects, both anchored by Wal-Mart Supercenters. DESCO, meanwhile, received approval from the Belleville City Council in late July and is beginning construction this month without a hint of litigation, according to Mike Malloy, Belleville's director of economic [continue]

 The Belleville Crossing Project that will be anchored by Target is on schedule. In contrast, two shopping centers in Belleville and Collinsville, to be anchored by Wal-Mart Supercenters, are the subject of litigation. Developers say Wal-Mart's size and market domination are at the crux of the conflict.
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Realtors fight to stop $5 million in consumer protection fund diversions
By KERRY L. SMITH

When 60,000 Illinois realtors saw annual licensing fees hiked in 2003, they thought dollars would go to promised consumer protection. The Illinois Assoc. of Realtors has sued the state of Illinois to keep it from sweeping $5 million of the fees into the general fund.

   The Illinois Association of Realtors has filed suit against the state of Illinois to prevent the Blagojevich Administration from channeling $5 million of consumer protection monies into the state's general fund to plug the deficit.
   Stan Sieron, president of the IAR - a professional association representing the state's 60,000-plus active realtor profession - said the lawsuit, filed in June, is currently in discovery proceedings. The Blagojevich Administration, he added, agreed to give the IAR the opportunity to file a preliminary injunction - a court order that would bar the state from actually sweeping the funds until and if a court ruled in the state's favor with a judgment at trial.
   The real estate fund at the heart of the sweep attempt, Sieron said, is the Real Estate License Administration Fund. The fund, which now has a balance of about $12.4 million, is funded largely by a percentage of the annual licensing [continue]

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Retail sales taxes provide extra fuel to energize Southwestern Illinois economy
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   It's a case of the rich getting richer as large, retail shopping centers are under way in Belleville, Fairview Heights and Collinsville that will generate more sales - and more sales tax dollars - for cities already high in the sales tax pecking order.
   Fairview Heights, long the leader in sales tax receipts in Southwestern Illinois, received almost $11.5 million in municipal and home rule sales taxes last year. The expansion and remodeling of St. Clair Square and the addition of the Shoppes at St. Clair Square, a new life-style center, will pad that total. Because of the large amount of sales tax, the city does not levy a municipal [continue]

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Upscale retail centers such as The Shoppes at St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights will pad the retail sales tax revenue coffers the city already enjoys.