Plan to rebuild a Belleville McDonald’s with TIF funds is shot down by city council
Belleville City Council members have rejected a proposal to give $50,000 in Tax Increment Financing for a McDonald’s owner who wants to tear down the restaurant by Belleville East High School and build a new one on the same site.
James E. Williams Jr., who owns 20 McDonald’s restaurants in the area, said the demolition of his restaurant at 906 Carlyle Ave. is scheduled to begin in November and the new building will be ready in early 2021.
The $50,000 in funding from the city of Belleville would have come from the TIF 3 fund for the demolition and site preparation.
As part of the development agreement rejected by aldermen in a 8-6 vote, Williams promised to invest $3.26 million in the reconstruction of the restaurant and produce annual sales subject to sales tax of $2.4 million.
City officials estimate that Belleville could gain $47,000 a year in sales tax revenue based on this level of sales.
Mayor Mark Eckert said the restaurant’s owner was looking at alternate sites for the new McDonald’s, including some outside the city, but decided to stay at the Carlyle Avenue location in part because of the possibility Belleville could provide TIF funding.
“We’ll get our return back very quickly,” Eckert said, citing the sales tax revenue Belleville would get from the McDonald’s.
The measure failed by two votes.
“We’ll have to tell them that there are no incentives and see what they do,” Eckert said Tuesday night after the plan was voted down.
Eric Schauster, the assistant director of economic development for the city, told alderman that the development agreement is with Williams’ company called Estel Foods Inc. and not with McDonald’s Corp., which says it has over 38,000 locations in over 100 countries.
While the Carlyle Avenue restaurant is closed and rebuilt, the current employees will be offered positions at other McDonald’s restaurants, Williams said.
The restaurant has 26 “full-time equivalent” jobs and Williams expects to add seven more after the new restaurant opens.
Williams, whose father, James Williams Sr., was the first black mayor of East St. Louis, told alderman last week in a committee meeting that the Carlyle Avenue McDonald’s “needs to be rebuilt.”
“It’s one of the older units in Southern Illinois,” Williams said. “The goal is to rebuild it and also become part of the regeneration of that area.”
“Other major brands have left that area,” he said. “When I take a look at the area, I still said to myself, ‘We have a lot of rooftops.’ There’s a lot of opportunity here. And so to be a part of the regeneration of this area is pretty special.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
