LANSING | The Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar wants to come to this south suburb, but only if Cook County will give it a significant tax break.
Attorneys for the chain of restaurants specializing in spiced chicken wings and assorted sandwiches appeared last week before the Village Board to discuss their plans for the former Tortilla Grill Cantina at 3720 Ridge Road.
The vacant building needs kitchen renovations and reconfigured seating costing from $800,000 to just under $1 million, attorney Bill Sandrick said.
Company officials say property taxes could make it impossible for them to earn a profit from a Lansing site. They are asking the Cook County Board to grant them a Class 8 tax incentive, which would slash their property tax rates more than half. The village would have to consent to allowing the company's potential tax income to be slashed.
Sandrick said a Lansing restaurant would pay about $60,000 per year in property taxes with the Class 8 status. Without it, that tax bill would go up to about $115,000 annually.
"We'd have to sell 230,000 wings a month to pay off those property taxes," Sandrick joked. "This venture just isn't practical without the tax break."
Sandrick said the village would still benefit because a Lansing restaurant would result in creating about 80 full- and part-time jobs for local residents.
Mayor Dan Podgorski said he might support the tax break when the board meets Tuesday because he thinks bringing a restaurant to that location also could attract people who live just east of State Line Road.
"It would be a chance to have an attraction that would bring people from Indiana to our village," he said.
Sandrick said Buffalo Wild Wings officials hope they can get the tax break approved quickly and renovate the building in time to open some time early next year.
But the last time the Lansing Village Board consented to a Class 8 tax incentive (for an Aldi supermarket at Ridge Road and Wentworth Avenue), the County Board did not get around to approving the request for six months.
Construction on that project did not begin until mid-September.
