Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A developer’s agreement that will pave the way for Dunham’s Sports to move into a portion of the vacant Kmart space was approved Wednesday by the Shawano Plan Commission and heads to the Common Council next week.
The sporting goods chain will move into roughly a third of the 87,000 square-foot former Kmart site at 1211 E. Green Bay St.
Construction is already in progress for the store, with an opening expected in May.
The city recently expanded a Tax Incremental Finance district along East Green Bay Street to include the Shawano Plaza so that financial assistance can be provided for a remodeling of the vacant space.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the addition of Dunham’s, as well as J Merchants, which moved into the vacant JC Penney space in December, will boost the plaza’s assessed valuation from its current value of $3.1 million to $5.4 million.
That will generate about $54,000 a year more in taxes than the plaza currently brings in, Knapp said. The additional revenue will go into the TIF district fund.
Shawano Plaza is owned and managed by Atlanta-based RCG Ventures LLC, a privately funded real estate investment group that acquires and develops commercial real estate.
The developer’s agreement between the city and RCG calls for the investment group to make up the difference if additional tax revenue doesn’t reach the $54,000 a year target.
The agreement also calls for the city to provide RCG with a $300,000 grant to assist with remodeling and renovation.
RCG is investing about $1.8 million in the project.
TIF districts are areas where municipalities invest in infrastructure, such as sewer and water, to attract development where it might not otherwise occur, or to make improvements, such as eliminating blight.
Whatever increase in tax revenue that results from development in those districts goes to paying back the debt the municipality incurred from making improvements to the district. It can also be used for other TIF district improvements, or grants and loans to businesses in the district.
The Shawano Kmart closed in July 2014, laying off 55 employees. It had been in business at that location since 1989.
Michigan-based Dunham’s Sports has a chain of about 200 stores, mostly in the Midwest.