After a seven-year absence, Currie Chevrolet might return to the corner of Roosevelt Road and Desplaines Avenue.
At Monday’s village council meeting, Mayor Anthony Calderone announced that Currie officials have requested financial incentives from the village if they move the Chevrolet dealership from its current location at 8401 W. Roosevelt. The village council voted 4-0 to hire Kane, McKenna and Associates Inc. of Chicago, the village’s financial advisor, to review the village’s options. Commissioner Dan Novak did not attend.
Incentives being considered include use of tax increment financing (TIF) funds, real estate tax revenue and sales tax revenue. Kane, McKenna will review and analyze any requests for public financial assistance, including what expenses Currie might incur that could be covered by TIF funds.
“This is a big deal,” Calderone said. “It can only be good.”
He added that he has been in negotiations with Currie officials for “a few months” and negotiations have progressed from “walking through the hypotheticals” to the point where both sides “begin the process to formalize the request.”
No cost estimate for Kane, McKenna’s work was announced but the company will bill monthly at rates ranging from $25 per hour to $200 per hour.
“We want to thoroughly examine the proposal,” Calderone explaned. “If it makes sense, we will bring it back to the council.”
Currie has been in Forest Park since 1981, beginning with a Chrysler dealership at 8401 Roosevelt. The company purchased the Gleason Chevrolet property at Roosevelt and Desplaines from Auto Nation in 2007. Jerry Gleason had owned Gleason Chevrolet for many years before selling to Auto Nation.
In 2009, after Currie lost its Chrysler franchise when Chrysler terminated franchise agreements with 789 dealers across the country, officials remodeled the facility at 8401 Roosevelt, which they own, and relocated the Chevrolet dealership from Roosevelt and Desplaines, which they were renting from a member of the Gleason family.
At that time, village officials provided financial incentives in the form of a sales tax rebate agreement, which is still in effect.
Currie Motors is owned by the Jaffey family who live in the United Kingdom. The family owns nine dealerships in the UK and six entities, including a bank, in the U.S. Their business is not publicly traded.
With the ongoing renovation of Roosevelt Road and the pending opening of Home Owners Bargain Outlet (HOBO) at 7630 W. Roosevelt, Calderone said the relocation of Currie Chevrolet to Roosevelt and Desplaines means “great things are in store.”
