111 E. Cermak, the site of an ambitious data center and hotel near McCormick Place in Ald. Pat Dowell’s 3rd Ward, is the subject of two agenda items today: one from Mayor Rahm Emanuel declaring certain portions of property at the site are blighted; the other, support for a class 7b tax break for the owner, Michigan Cermak LLC, who intends to build a 466 room Hilton Hotel at the site.

A portion of the site is within the Michigan and Cermak TIF, and another part is located within the 24th and Michigan TIF. The city is reaffirming the site’s blighted status to achieve the property tax break.

The 7b application includes a blight report, which details the site’s deteriorating property value, odd site shape, chronic flooding, severely deteriorated and vacant buildings to the south and east, and poor site planning. “Most of the properties within the study area were originally platted and developed on a parcel-by-parcel and building-by-building basis with little evidence of coordination and planning among building and activities,” the site analysis says.

Properties awarded with the 7b incentive receive a reduced assessment level of 10% of fair market value for the first ten years, 15% for the eleventh year and 20% for the twelfth year, instead of 25%.

Two 6b incentives are also on the agenda. 6b breaks have a similar structure to 7b, but are designed to encourage industrial development at new facilities, the rehabilitation of existing industrial structures, or the industrial reutilization of abandoned buildings. Alpina Manufacturing, a picture frame manufacturer, is looking to rehabilitate an approximately 99,000 square foot industrial facility at 6460 W. Cortland Street in Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s 29th Ward.

Ald. Nick Sposato (38) is also resurrecting a stale 6b incentive extension for Columbia Metal Spinning Co., located at the southeast comer of Montrose Avenue and Normandy Avenue (in the Read-Dunning TIF). The first tax break for the property was implemented in 2003.