Cal City negotiating deal to keep Cadillac dealer

CALUMET CITY | City officials are negotiating with an automobile dealer over a tax sharing plan to encourage the dealership to expand its facility and add another dealership locally.

Napleton has a Lincoln/Mercury dealership at 1777 River Oaks Drive in Calumet City, as well as the Napleton River Oaks Cadillac dealership at 6131 Hohman Ave. in Hammond.

Under the tax sharing deal that may receive City Council approval in March, Napleton would expand the Lincoln/Mercury dealership facility and build a new facility on adjacent property for the Cadillac dealership.

Mayor Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush said at a finance committee meeting Wednesday she hopes a deal can get final council approval at its March 8 meeting.

The plan involves the city's share of sales taxes collected at the Napleton dealerships. If approved, Calumet City would rebate part of that money to the dealership to help pay construction costs of the expanded and new facilities.

"They would be building a new facility from the ground up, and it would be the most state-of-the-art dealership that they have ever done," said James Gigliotti, Calumet City's economic development director. "This would be a gesture on our part to encourage them to come to our community," he said.

He would not say how much money the city would rebate to the auto dealer, saying the dealership has yet to tell the city how much it expects to spend on construction and renovation.

"Once we know an exact figure, we'll make the deal final," Gigliotti said. "We want them to come, but we don't want to give away any more than we have to."