Homewood scores headquarters, production plant for Crestwood sports apparel company
Apparel Redefined, a Crestwood company that does silk screening and embroidery of customized athletic apparel, will move its headquarters to Homewood and build a new production facility, according to plans.
Founded in 1970, the company says it has outgrown its existing location, 4611 136th St.
The Homewood Village Board approved the development earlier this month on about 6.4 acres of village-owned land. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the project in September.
'It's a clean use,' Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said. 'It's an ideal use for that site.'
The village said Apparel Redefined began talks with Homewood in 2022, and a redevelopment agreement was approved last October calling for the village to use tax increment financing to reimburse the company for certain costs.
Apparel Redefined plans to renovate an existing office building at 1313 175th St. and construct a 46,000-square-foot production facility next door, with the buildings connected by a two-level enclosed walkway.
The redevelopment agreement calls for Homewood to reimburse the company $1.5 million for issues related to soil conditions that hampered development of the vacant property where the factory will be located.
The company will pay costs for the development up front, including $5 million in TIF-eligible costs, according to the redevelopment agreement.
That work eligible for TIF reimbursement would include things such as property improvements, utility work and workforce training, according to the village.
In a TIF district, property tax revenues paid to the municipality and other taxing bodies, such as school, park and library districts, are frozen at current levels. Increases in tax revenue due to development, or the increment, can be used to subsidize some costs that would otherwise be borne entirely by the developer.
Apparel Redefined said the factory is being built to handle more than 100 employees. It now has about 60.
Members of South Suburbs for Greenspace, which battled redevelopment of Calumet Country Club, has expressed concerns about stormwater runoff.
The development site is in the Prairie Lakes Industrial Park, north of the Izaak Walton Preserve. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District approved a stormwater permit for the project because it determined existing stormwater detention in Prairie Lakes would be sufficient to handle runoff.
While large detention ponds were created to handle development within Prairie Lakes, Greenspace members raised issues about runoff into a pond that has brown-colored water.
Hofeld said he walks his dogs in that area, and said 'the pond has always been brown,' something he attributes to tannic acid from vegetation such as leaves.
He said the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will test the pond water.
'Until the results are in you shouldn't jump to conclusions,' Hofeld said Thursday.
Apparel Redefined was founded in 1970 as Angie & Rich's Custom Screening and Monogramming, according to a company history.
Ownership changed in 2006, and the company was renamed Apparel Redefined, or A & R Screening.
Hofeld said some of the company's products are for high schools.
For the last two years, it has researched sites for a new home, looking in south Cook County, Will County and northwest Indiana, the company said.
The existing vacant land Apparel Redefined will build on has been owned by Homewood for several years, but no development has taken place due to soil conditions, according to the village.
The factory will be 270-by-170 feet, according to plans.
Apparel Redefined expects over an initial 10 years the development will generate more than $2.1 million in property taxes. Being owned by the village, the property generates no property taxes.
Homewood officials said the vacant property, directly east of Homewood Disposal, is the last lot in the 178-acre Prairie Lake Business Park, part of which is on the site of the former Washington Park Race Track, a horse racing track that also hosted concerts, destroyed by a fire in 1977.
Apparel Redefined said it works with high schools to provide internships to students, and has six student interns in Crestwood. The company said part-time internships can also turn into full-time employee with the company.
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