Danville to look at increasing mall incentive

DANVILLE — As the new Dunham's sporting goods store moves closer to its opening date at the Village Mall, the Danville City Council on Tuesday will consider increasing its incentive payment to the mall owner as part of a redevelopment agreement that involves Dunham's and another retailer planning a site at the mall.

Jeremiah Sunden, an executive with Dallas-based Tabani Group, which owns the mall, said officials are not yet prepared to name the second retailer that plans to occupy an anchor position at the mall. But, he said it's a national fashion and home-goods retailer with more than 1,000 locations around the country.

And, he said, Dunham's and the undisclosed tenant are driving interest in the mall among other quality retailers that could benefit the Danville community.

At Tuesday night's meeting, the city council will consider an amended redevelopment agreement with Tabani Group that will increase the city's incentive payment based on newly projected sales figures for the second retailer.

The council meets at 6 p.m. in the city's municipal building at 17 W. Main St.

In the original agreement approved earlier this year by the council, it was projected that the two retailers would have combined sales of $7.5 million, but new projections for the second retailer have now doubled from $3 million to $6 million.

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said the new sales tax projections are based on numbers compiled by the retailer and Tabani Group and research by city and local economic development officials. He said the target date for the second retailer to open is summer 2013.

According to the redevelopment agreement, the city must pay upfront in a lump sum 50 percent of the projected sales tax revenue generated over the first five years, but the total amount cannot exceed 50 percent of what it costs to renovate the mall space.

Based on the new figures, it's estimated that sales tax revenue to the city over five years would be $675,000, so the city's upfront incentive payment to Tabani would be $337,500 if local labor is not used and $506,250 if local labor is used.

According to the agreement, the city does not pay out the incentive money until the retailers are ready to open and have a certificate of occupancy from the city, meaning all inspections are complete.

Eisenhauer said the incentive payments will come from city sales tax revenues, and he hopes that money will be recovered within the first few years of the stores doing business.

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