Downtown Oak Park. The Cook County Board of review granted nearly $56 million in tax assessment breaks to Oak Park commercial landlords this year. [David Wilson/Flickr]

The Cook County Board of Review this year has already scrubbed more than $1.6 billion in taxable value from retail, office, apartment and industrial properties across the county, once again shielding commercial property owners from the bulk of assessment hikes that would have otherwise been handed down by Assessor Fritz Kaegi.