Park Ridge to receive payments in lieu of sales tax for new Uptown Pilates studio

Oct. 22--Owners of a proposed fitness studio in Uptown Park Ridge will pay the city more than $8,900 annually in order to operate within a development originally meant to support sales tax-producing businesses.

The City Council on Oct. 16 voted unanimously in favor of a lease agreement between Uptown Station LLC, the owner of Shops of Uptown, and M&M Angels, a company that plans to open a studio, Club Pilates, at 70 N. Northwest Highway.

Under the agreement, the city will receive a payment of $8,922 in lieu of sales tax during the first year of Club Pilates' operation, said Jim Brown, director of community preservation and development. The payment, which is based on square footage of the storefront, is required under the city's Uptown Redevelopment Agreement when a tenant does not generate sales tax, Brown wrote in a memo to the City Council.

"This is a way we are able to allow service-based tenants into the [Shops of] Uptown area and we still get the equivalent of sales tax revenue," Brown said.

The City Council has also approved similar payment agreements with eight other non-sales tax-producing businesses that have opened in Shops of Uptown. These include the fitness studio Pure Barre, Orangetheory Fitness, Scottrade brokerage service, Charles Schwab financial planning, Mathnasium tutoring center, Indira Salon, Uptown Dental and Aligned Modern Health.

The Uptown development project was initially envisioned as a center for retail stores and restaurants, but it has attracted a number of service-oriented businesses since tenants began moving in late in 2006. There are four restaurants in the development, one grocery store and four other sales tax-generating businesses.

The City Council on Oct. 16 also tentatively voted in support of a special-use permit that will allow Club Pilates to open at 70 N. Northwest Highway. A final vote is expected on Nov. 6.

If approved, Club Pilates will be the third fitness studio to operate in Shops of Uptown.

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