Geneva aldermen are willing to rebate nearly $235,000 in sales tax to help Nosh restaurant and My Salon renovate and move to a former paint store on North Third Street.
They voted 8-0 at a committee-of-the-whole meeting Monday in favor of an agreement with Mynosh LLC for the former J.C. Licht store at 22 N. Third St. Mynosh LLC is owned by Mike Dixon, owner of Nosh restaurant at 211 James St. in Geneva, and Tom Stuart, owner of the salon at 303 N. Second St. in St. Charles.
The building has been empty since December 2008.
The 10-year agreement calls for rebating half the sales taxes the businesses generate over 10 years, up to $234,863.
Catherine Tymoszenko, the city’s economic development director, said she expects the amount to be less, between $50,000 and $100,000.
The sales-tax agreement could help Mynosh LLC obtain bank financing for an estimated $1.27 million in renovations, Tymoszenko and Dixon said. Mynosh LLC paid $605,000 for the property in August.
Besides remodeling, the 75-year-old building needs significant work to upgrade the utilities and install fully accessible restrooms, according to the city and Mike Dixon of Mynosh LLC.
“They are investing in a property that has really been a problem child for the (North Third) corridor,” Tymoszenko said.
Dixon said the restaurant would have “more usable” room, including a basement, in the new building. He intends to have more seating and keep it open longer. Nosh serves breakfast and lunch, but Dixon wants to add dinner service.
Nosh is currently a tenant in a building that is part of a 10-year-old sales-tax-rebate agreement that includes the nearby buildings holding the Fashion Walk shops and the All-Chocolate Kitchen, on South Third Street. Tymoszenko said she is confident once Nosh moves out, another tenant will move in quickly.
Alderman Tom Simonian supported the plan, but said that he would prefer an agreement that would tie the amount of the rebate each year to increasing sales, perhaps with the city retaining a larger percentage of tax in the first years and getting “a smaller percentage of a larger piece of the pie” in subsequent years.
Mayor Kevin Burns is enthusiastic about the proposal. “This is simple to the point of ‘duh,'” he said.
Simonian and Burns are running against each other for mayor.
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