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Grainger Annexed to Mettawa
W.W. Grainger Annexes to the Village of Mettawa
August 22, 2018
What began as a discussion about the purchase of land well over two years ago has culminated in the annexation of W.W. Grainger into the Village of Mettawa. The annexation was unanimously approved by the Mettawa Village Board at its regular meeting last night. The 152 acre property contains Grainger’s Corporate Headquarters and its 2,100 employees. Grainger is a broad line business-tobusiness distributor of maintenance, repair and operating supplies and other related products and services.
Late in 2015, Village officials had discussions with Grainger representatives about their 100.3 acre vacant properties located on both sides Riverwoods Road, just north of Everett Road (see attached property exhibit). The property, already in the Village of Mettawa, was subject to a 1998 annexation agreement that allowed up to 26 residential lots. Grainger was interested in selling the property and the Village showed interest in the acquisition. After several meetings, the discussions extended to an additional Grainger owned 13.7 vacant property located at the southwest corner of Rt. 60 and Riverwoods Road (see attached property exhibit), and the possibility of Grainger annexing its Corporate Headquarters property to Mettawa. The two parties reached an agreement in principal in early 2018, and over the past several months, drafted various documents including an annexation agreement, land purchase agreement and an economic incentive agreement.
With last night’s approvals by the Village Board of Trustees and after recording of the annexation ordinance with the County, Grainger will now be a part of the Village of Mettawa. The Village will purchase 114 acres of Grainger’s property located in the areas described earlier for $5.8 million. The Village of Mettawa and Grainger have entered into an economic inventive agreement regarding the collection of sales taxes in the Village. The Village will borrow $3.8 million to finance the purchase of the property and receive 100% of the sales tax proceeds until all costs associated with the loan have been paid including principal and interest payments. When that point has been reached, Grainger will receive 100% of the sales tax until they have received $6.78 million. The agreement then transitions to a 50%-50% sharing of the sales tax for a period of 20 years.
Mettawa is proud and pleased to welcome Grainger to the Village.