DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register
Mayor Mike Houston’s administration is recommending Hy-Vee Co. receive more than $3.5 million in tax increment financing to build a supermarket along MacArthur Boulevard. If the TIF money is approved by the Springfield City Council, construction of the 88,000-square-foot grocery store on the site of the former Kmart, 2115 S. MacArthur, could begin in the spring and take less than a year, Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer said Friday.
The company also has an agreement to purchase the former Town & Country Shell station, which closed in October. The TIF request represents nearly 36 percent of the project’s total cost, according to a summary sheet prepared for the aldermen. The proposal will be introduced on first reading at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin called the agreement “another major leap in the renewal of MacArthur Boulevard.” A TitleMax store near the front of the lot will be torn down to create additional parking. “Hy-Vee will transform the appearance and image of the area,” McMenamin said.
More than a year
Hy-Vee announced plans in September 2011 to build a full-service grocery store, a gasoline station-convenience store and bring nearly 500 jobs to the site of the old Kmart, along with the adjoining building that formerly housed Spillway Lanes bowling alley.
There are no specific plans yet for the Town & Country Shell station at MacArthur and Cherry Road, she said. “We have an agreement to purchase the former shell station,” said Comer. “We haven’t closed on that purchase yet.”
“The MacArthur Boulevard Business Association is looking forward to welcoming Hy-Vee to our area,” said Jen Dillman, the group’s president. “Incentives like the newly created TIF will attract redevelopment to the boulevard community. The board and membership of MBBA are energized and looking forward to many good things in the coming year.”
Self-generated increment
Springfield aldermen in February voted to create a TIF district along MacArthur Boulevard, hoping it would spur development in the area. The district includes the section of MacArthur from South Grand Avenue to Summit Avenue.
When the city council designates an area as a TIF district, the current value of the property is established as the “base amount.” Any increase in the property value over the base — the “increment” in tax increment financing — is set aside to pay for additional improvements inside the same TIF district. The money can’t be spent outside the area.
While the proposal will be introduced Tuesday, aldermen won’t discuss it until early next year.
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A proposed agreement with Hy-Vee would provide more than $3.5 million in tax increment financing for the following:
Right-of-way acquisition: $24,000
Environmental and asbestos testing and abatement: $350,000
Architectural, engineering construction management and other services: $250,000
Site clearing and grading: $118,943
Utility and building-shell demolition and exterior reconstruction: almost $2.5 million
Parking lot reconstruction and reconditioning: $289,424
Storm and sanitary sewer rehabilitation: $34,045
Landscaping and irrigation: $30,254
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 