Hoover council approves tax rebates for two Trace Crossings shopping centers

The Hoover City Council tonight approved tax rebate agreements for two new shopping centers planned in the Trace Crossings area.

One of the agreements gives up to $20 million in sales tax rebates back to a New York developer building a 44-acre shopping center along John Hawkins Parkway between Interstate 459 and Stadium Trace Parkway.

And the second gives up to $2.5 million in sales tax rebates for a smaller shopping center being developed by a Dallas-based company at the corner of Stadium Trace Parkway and Brock’s Gap Parkway.

In each case, the developer gets 50 percent of new sales tax revenues brought to the city from their developments over a 10-year period rebated back to them, not to exceed the capped amounts of $20 million and $2.5 million.

Hoover Councilman Casey Middlebrooks asked if the larger shopping center, now being referred to as Stadium Trace Village, would steal businesses from existing shopping centers, saying he had concerns about granting tax abatements just to move businesses from one place in the city to another.

City Administrator Allan Rice said he and other city officials have had extensive conversations with the developer, Broad Metro LLC, and don’t believe that will be the case.

Will Kadish, marketing director for Broad Metro, said his company plans to bring in businesses that are unique to Hoover and, in some cases, to Alabama.

The rebate agreement for Stadium Trace Village specifically excludes sales tax money generated from stores of at least 40,000 square feet that relocate from another part of Hoover unless it is a separate or new division of the parent company or a substantially expanded new prototype of an existing store.

Stadium Trace Village is slated to include a 70,000-square-foot “experiential” retail store, an organic grocery store, a 39,000-square-foot medical office center, 35,000-square-foot village with attached shops and restaurants and various outparcels for hotels or other tenants, Kadish said.

The agreement with the city will prevent the developer from putting automobile dealerships, automotive sales or service facilities, a truck stop or motels on the site.

Kadish said Broad Metro is investing more than $71 million in the project, including site work, roads and sewer lines.

The company is investing more than $2.5 million in improvements to John Hawkins Parkway and Stadium Trace Parkway, said Mark Gonzalez, an engineer with Gonzalez, Strength & Associates.

Those include a right-turn lane all the way from I-459 to the development entrance, another through lane that turns right onto Stadium Trace Parkway and continues to an entrance off Stadium Trace Parkway at Emery Drive, a third left-turn lane off Stadium Trace Parkway onto John Hawkins Parkway and a double-left turn lane from Stadium Trace Parkway onto I-459 South, Gonzalez said.

Hoover resident Gene Powell asked why a new shopping center is being built when there is an empty shopping center just across the street and many vacant spots in The Grove shopping center across I-459.

Councilman Gene Smith said the owner of the former Winn-Dixie shopping center across the street, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, has been asked to sell its land for development and so far declined.

The Grove shopping center has an unusual policy that allows current tenants to veto the addition of new tenants, and that has kept numerous stores from opening there, Smith said.

Powell said he’s concerned that Stadium Trace Village will end up with vacancies, too. Councilman John Lyda said Broad Metro is confident enough in its development to invest all that money in it. They are the ones taking the gamble, not the city, Lyda said.

Middlebrooks said he would feel better if he could know more details about the tenants that are slated to come to the shopping center but trusts the mayor, Rice and other council members that have had talks with the developer, who can’t fully disclose the exact tenants due to confidentiality agreements.

Kadish told the council that Broad Metro has developments in 42 states and has worked hard with Hoover city officials to make sure this development is something special and not just a standard big-box store development. The mayor and city staff asked them to redraw the plans to give the development more an urban village feel with a Main Street, and they have complied, he said.

Rice said city officials don’t necessarily expect the rebate to get up to $20 million but would love for it to because that would mean the city would also gain up to $20 million in new sales tax revenue.

Riverchase resident Arnold Singer said this is one of the best presentations he has seen for a development and commended the prior and current city administrations for working with Broad Metro LLC to provide an incentive.

“This is exactly the kind of development we need to see in Hoover,” Singer said.

Village at Brock's Gap

The smaller shopping center, The Village at Brock’s Gap, is being developed by Altera Development Co. in Dallas and is already 70 percent leased, said Kerry Burden, a principal in the company. It will be about 77,000 square feet and includes a 7,000-square-foot restaurant that will be new to Hoover and a 12,000-square-foot medical tenant. About 60 percent of The Village at Brock’s Gap will be retail tenants, mostly smaller, local companies, he said.

The sales tax rebate will allow for lower rental rates to help the small businesses make the investment in a new facility, Burden said.

Hoover resident Pete Mosley said he’s concerned if the businesses will last if they need help getting started. Burden said all the tenants have been through a thorough vetting process and have signed 10-year leases. This will just help them with their upfront costs, he said.

Councilman John Greene, who voted against the tax rebate for The Village at Brock’s Gap, said he thinks it will be detrimental to add traffic at that intersection that already is stressed with traffic from Hoover High and Trace Crossings Elementary.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato has been working on a tax abatement agreement for the redevelopment of the Riverchase Village shopping center, now being called the Whole Foods Market Plaza, at the southern intersection of U.S. 31 and Lorna Road.

That agreement originally was slated to come to the Hoover City Council tonight, too, but Rice said city officials need to have more conversations with the developer about that agreement before bringing it forward.