052311 Family Dollar gets city council OK for renovation tax incentive
By Sharon Haught
May 16, 2011
258
Summary: A retail building in downtown Wooster is about to receive a major facelift.
The building on the corner of Liberty and Grant Streets in downtown Wooster that formerly housed a Sherman Williams store will be getting an extensive facelift thanks to legislation unanimously approved by Wooster City Council during their early May meeting.
It is with enthusiasm this evening that I bring before council a new investment in our downtown, said Councilman Jon Ansel in introducing the legislation.
According to Ansel CM Properties-Wooster, LLC will be making a three quarters of a million dollar investment in the citys downtown to convert the former Sherman Williams building into a Family Dollar Store.
Once the renovations are complete, Family Dollar expects to bring 10 new full time jobs to downtown Wooster.
According to Ansel the project will result in a high demand retail store and a major investment in our downtown that really does balance our city.
Two of the fastest growing retail store in the nation right now are Dollar General and Family Dollar so they are resounding market driven success stories, Ansel added.
Ansel noted that when Family Dollar initially expressed an interest in locating a store in the downtown areas, the original plans for the building called for architectural and design details that werent a good fit for the downtown area.
One of the stumbling blocks that occurred in the initial dialog and the reason this wasnt slam dunk right out of the blocks is the fact that because of our focus in the downtown area there were some requests to not have a bright red mansard panel roof building with décor that that would not be consistent with our downtown historical district, said Ansel.
Because the building is located outside of Woosters Public Square Landmark District and the design controls that go along with that designation, it was kind of a gray area Ansel noted.
What ensued was a series of discussions between Family Dollar and city officials to seek a compromise.
They could have played hardball as a corporate investment entity and said were going to do this regardless but they said if we can receive some support in terms of an investment reduction on the tax portion we can justify this request, said Ansel.
They worked very closely with our city planning commission and zoning commission and they came up with a beautiful renovation, said Ansel.
The result is what Ansel called a collective win/win for the company investing in the area and for the downtown.
The ordinance passed by city council provides CM Properties-Wooster with a 12 year, 50 percent real property tax abatement on their investment under the citys Community Reinvestment Area program.
Even with the abatement the city stands to earn additional tax revenue.
According to Ansel the property currently generates about $8100 in taxes annually.
Without the abatement it would have been $17,800 but with the abatement of 50 percent its still going to generate $12,963 – a substantial increase and a beatification of a new building, said Ansel.
"This project is another successful example of Wooster's Community Reinvestment Area, said Woosters Economic Development Coordinator Justin Starlin adding without the ability to offer the developer an incentive the exterior of this building would have clashed with neighboring aesthetics of the area."
Any time you can get a business that will be a good neighbor and cooperate with the different commissions thats one we want downtown, said Councilman Mike Buytendyk.
This brings in a retail establishment that can be of great benefit to all of us, added Council Representative Barb Knapic. It will be a great service to the downtown community.
