Northbrook-based Scottsdale Limited Partnership continues negotiating with the department of planning and development on a tax increment financing deal that could provide up to $18 million. The community development commission recently created a TIF district for the 20.5-acre shopping center, built to serve the 4,000-home Scottsdale residential development. However, Scottsdale Shopping Center has since been surpassed by the Ford City Mall a few blocks north. "The shopping center has declined and deteriorated to become something of a blight," says John R. Keating of the Scottsdale Homeowners Association.

The economic incentives are seen as key to stemming a tide of big-box retailers setting up shop west of Cicero Avenue in neighboring suburbs of Bedford Park and Burbank. Department of planning and development officials estimate redevelopment of the shopping center could more than double its equalized assessed value of less than $8 million.

Plans by Scottsdale Limited Partnership's David and Abraham Katz call for the Lowe's store to be built on the northeast corner of the shopping center. The proposed redevelopment also calls for 1,201 parking spaces.