City of Chicago v. Prologis

890 N.E.2d 639, 383 Ill. App. 3d 160
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 6, 2008
Docket1-07-0108
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 890 N.E.2d 639 (City of Chicago v. Prologis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Chicago v. Prologis, 890 N.E.2d 639, 383 Ill. App. 3d 160 (Ill. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE FITZGERALD SMITH

delivered the opinion of the court:

Although complexities relating to the expansion of O’Hare Airport figure in the background of this case, this appeal presents a single issue: whether compensation must be paid to holders of certain bonds. Defendant ProLogis, a Maryland real estate investment trust, f/k/a ProLogis Trust, f/k/a Security Capital Industrial Trust (defendant or ProLogis), owned property that included a redevelopment project area for which tax increment financing (TIF) bonds had been sold. After the plaintiff City of Chicago (plaintiff or the City) brought an eminent domain action against ProLogis to acquire the property for the planned airport expansion, bondholders Dennis Hiffman, John Cash, Sylvia Doyne Collins Irrevocable Trust dated 4/10/96, Keith Bank Declaration of Trust dated 12/14/94, Edward R. Hulina Trust dated 5/10/94, JKS-3D Two Trust, Mark Christensen, Holly D. Hulina Trust dated 5/10/94, Elizabeth E. Hulina Trust dated 5/10/94, Bonnie E. Hulina Trust dated 5/10/94, and Richard E. Hulina Trust dated 5/10/94 (collectively, intervenors or bondholders), intervened. ProLogis and the bondholders filed a counterclaim for inverse condemnation, which the circuit court denied. On appeal, they contend that the City was required to pay just compensation for rendering the TIF bonds worthless. We disagree, and for the reasons that follow, we affirm the ruling of the circuit court.

The factual background concerning the creation of the redevelopment project in the Village of Bensenville (the Village or Bensenville) and the TIF bonds is not disputed. According to the record, the Village prepared a redevelopment plan for certain property adjacent to O’Hare Airport (referred to as the O’Hare Cargo Center Redevelopment Project Area) for the purpose of furthering the Village’s growth and increasing the assessed valuation of village real estate. The Village prepared the plan, entered an agreement with a developer and enacted ordinances and resolutions ratifying the plan and agreement.

In 1996, the Village entered a redevelopment agreement with a developer, Hiffman Shaffer Acquisitions, Inc., which then made an assignment of its rights and obligations to purchase the redevelopment property as well as the entire redevelopment agreement to defendant ProLogis. Under the agreement, the developer was to acquire the property and have certain buildings constructed in order to generate additional tax revenue for the Village; of an entire project cost of more than $52 million, slightly less than $9 million was made eligible for tax increment financing.

In April 1996, the TIF bonds were issued to facilitate the development of the project and were meant to be the source of funding for the TIF costs; the redevelopment agreement made note of the “extremely limited” number of potential buyers that existed at the stage before tenants had committed to the project. ProLogis agreed to purchase the TIF bonds and the Village agreed to issue $2.8 million in TIF bonds to ProLogis and $4.2 million in TIF bonds to either ProLogis or its nominees.

The $7 million in TIF bonds were issued pursuant to a village ordinance (bond ordinance) that authorized their issuance and which explicitly created a contract between the Village and the registered bondholders. In the bond ordinance, the Village pledged to pay the bond principal plus 10% annual tax-exempt interest for a 20-year term. The bond ordinance stated, in detailing the security of the bonds, that the principal and interest payments were to be made exclusively from certain property taxes, the “pledged taxes,” which were also known as the incremental or ad valorem taxes:

“The Bonds, together with the interest *** if any, thereon, are limited obligations of the Village, payable solely and only from the Pledged Taxes. *** No holder of any Bond shall have the right to compel the exercise of any taxing power of the Village for payment of principal thereof or interest *** if any, thereon. THE BONDS DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN INDEBTEDNESS OF THE VILLAGE OR A LOAN OF CREDIT THEREOF WITHIN THE MEANING OF ANY STATUTORY OR CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION.”

The TIF bonds, which indicated a similar source of payment, ad valorem taxes and amounts pledged and deposited to the O’Hare Cargo Center Redevelopment Project Area Special Tax Incremental Allocation Fund, were considered investments subject to known risk. The bondholders signed certificates of purchase that explicitly indicated their awareness of the risks associated with these investment bonds and an understanding of the respective security arrangement. Specifically, the bondholders warranted that they independently investigated “the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the Bonds and the security and sources of payment therefor.” (Emphasis added.) The certificates enumerated the various documents at the purchasers’ disposal and contained acknowledgment that the purchasers could request, and had received, “information relating to the Bonds, the Village and the Project that the Purchaser deems necessary to make an independent determination to purchase the Bonds.” The bondholders also stated in the certificates that they had “assumed responsibility for obtaining such information and making such review.” Additionally, they characterized themselves as sophisticated investors able to handle, analyze, and evaluate risks, economic and otherwise, associated with the investment of these bonds: “The purchaser is a sophisticated investor, can bear the economic risk of the purchase of the Bonds, and has such knowledge and experience in business and financial matters, including the analysis of a participation in the purchase of similar investments, as to be capable of evaluating the merits and risks of an investment in the Bonds.” The terms of each bond are identical and explicitly state that the bonds are “limited obligations” of the Village and that they are secured only by the incremental taxes, “if any.” The bonds state, as does the ordinance, that the holders do not have “the right to compel the exercise of any taxing power of the village for payment of principal *** or interest.”

Over five years, ending in 2001, construction on the buildings in the redevelopment project was completed. ProLogis held the title to the property and leased the buildings to commercial tenants. In about 2002, the City identified the property as necessary for the expansion of O’Hare.

In April 2006, the City filed a condemnation action against ProLogis and all others with interests in the property to acquire the property comprising the O’Hare Distribution Complex, referred to as the subject property. However, the City did not seek to acquire the bonds attached to the subject property.

The following month, the bondholders filed the petition to intervene in the action and, with ProLogis, they filed the counterclaim for inverse condemnation. The bondholders and ProLogis are owners of the TIF bonds issued by the Village and secured by the incremental real estate taxes of the subject properly. In the counterclaim, ProLogis and the bondholders sought just compensation for the bonds because, they claimed, the City’s acquisition of the subject property would cause the redevelopment property to become exempt from real estate taxes, meaning the Village would not be able to collect incremental taxes for payment of future interest and remaining principal, thereby reducing the value of the bonds to nothing.

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Related

Strauss v. City of Chicago
2021 IL App (1st) 191977 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
City of Chicago v. PROLOGIS
923 N.E.2d 285 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
890 N.E.2d 639, 383 Ill. App. 3d 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-chicago-v-prologis-illappct-2008.