SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A European company is quietly talking with Illinois officials about tax incentives to build a $200 million Legoland amusement park in the Glen Carbon area, the Post-Dispatch has learned.

The Legislature could decide next week on the fate of a controversial tax incentive bill that could make or break the deal.

The amusement park would be part of the already proposed University Town Center, envisioned as a 900-acre mall.

Glen Carbon Mayor Robert Jackstadt confirmed Thursday "that I have had meetings with representatives of Legoland regarding the UTC project." He declined to elaborate.

Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn, confirmed that when the governor was in Copenhagen this month with the U.S. delegation to the Olympic committee, "He ran into these people from Legoland, and they told him what they wanted to do."

Legoland owners previously talked with officials in Columbia, Ill., about a site there, but it fell through in 2007 because of controversy over proposed tax incentives.

A source close to the Glen Carbon talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing negotiations, said the facility would be built by the owners of Legoland amusement parks in Carlsbad, Calif., and three European locations.

It would be a $200 million project that could draw 1 million people a year and create 150 full-time and 800 seasonal jobs, said the source, who noted, "They want a Midwest location."

The UTC project, spearheaded by Bruce Holland, of Holland Construction, has stirred controversy in the Metro East and Springfield. The investors — who include John Costello, the son of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill. — want the state to essentially forgive all sales taxes there so the revenue could pay off bonds to build it.

A bill creating that unprecedented "STAR" (sales tax revenue) bond arrangement passed the Legislature earlier this year, but Quinn, citing an estimated $15 million annual loss in revenue to the state, issued an amendatory veto to cut the tax break in half.

Holland has said the change could kill the plan. Lawmakers will decide next week whether to override the veto, or possibly reach some compromise.

A STAR bonds opponent, state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Highland, said the Legoland angle doesn't sway his view. "I have a real hard time making corporate welfare a priority right now," he said.