Alabaster to vote on proposed Dick’s Sporting Goods incentive package

Published 10:10 pm Thursday, April 11, 2013

By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Alabaster City Council is scheduled to vote on an incentive package during its April 15 meeting designed to attract a new Dick’s Sporting Goods store to the South Promenade shopping center.

During the council’s April 11 work session, Alabaster City Manager George Henry outlined the details of the incentive package, which could total up to a little more than $1.9 million over a 10-year period.

If the City Council passes the incentive package, the city will use it in an attempt to secure an about 50,000-square-foot Dicks’ Sporting Goods store adjacent to the Target store in the South Promenade, Henry said.

The developer also is looking to bring an outparcel business to the currently vacant lot between the McDonald’s and O’Charley’s restaurants.

The incentive package is tied to the city’s sales tax, and uses a tiered system over a 10-year period.

Alabaster currently charges a 4 percent city sales tax, with 1 percent going to the city’s school fund to support the upcoming Alabaster school district. If passed, the incentive package would only apply to 3 percent of the city’s sales tax collected at Dick’s and any outparcel development built between McDonald’s and O’Charley’s, leaving the 1 percent earmarked for the school fund intact.

If the incentive package passes and Dick’s is built in the South Promenade, Alabaster will reimburse the developer for 90 percent of the 3 percent city sales tax collected at Dick’s and the outparcel development during the first year the Dick’s store is open.

The city would keep 5 percent more of the sales tax revenue collected at Dick’s and the possible outparcel development each year through the 10th year the Dick’s store is in operation.

The total maximum value of the incentive package is capped at a little more than $1.9 million. If the cap is reached in fewer than 10 years, the incentive deal would end. If the cap is not reached in 10 years, the incentive deal would still end, Henry said.

The April 15 City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Alabaster Municipal Annex.