Hoover council approves tax rebates for Comedy Club Stardome
The Hoover City Council tonight approved a tax abatement agreement with the Comedy Club Stardome that was designed to keep the club in the city of Hoover.
The agreement, originally drawn up by previous Mayor Gary Ivey’s administration, will allow the Comedy Club to receive a rebate of sales taxes equal to 50 percent of additional revenues the club brings to the city of Hoover the next five years.
Hoover City Council President Gene Smith said the city of Birmingham heavily recruited the Comedy Club to come to Birmingham’s new entertainment district, but Ivey worked out the tax abatement agreement as a way to keep the club in Hoover, where it has been for more than 20 years.
So instead of moving, the Comedy Club last year completed more than $500,000 worth of renovations and stayed at its site on Data Drive.
The city will calculate the tax revenues generated to the city of Hoover between May 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017, and then give back 50 percent of any tax revenues generated above that amount each of the next five years.
Mayor Frank Brocato said that while the agreement wasn’t his idea, he believes the Comedy Club had negotiated the deal in good faith with the previous administration, so he favors honoring that agreement. The club has been such a wonderful part of the city for so many years, he said.
“He did have the opportunity to move out of the city and chose to stay,” Brocato said. “We want him to stay. We want our citizens to enjoy it. This is a great entertainment venue our residents don’t want to lose.”
Smith said he, too, thought the agreement was reasonable, given the amount of money the Comedy Club invested in Hoover.
In other business tonight, the City Council:
- Gave approval for Dave and Buster’s to operate as an entertainment venue at the Riverchase Galleria. Mike White, general manager of the Galleria, said the Dave and Buster’s will be taking part of the space now occupied by Forever 21, which is reducing its footprint at the mall. The goal is to have the Dave and Buster’s open by summer 2018, White said.
- Agreed to pay the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority $83,723 for services rendered in the city of Hoover during fiscal 2017. That’s an increase from $63,932 in 2016.
- Agreed to pay C.S. Beatty Construction Co. $330,887 to make wifi service available for the Hoover RV Park, which is currently being partially relocated and expanded.
- Agreed to let the Ragtime Café at 2080 Valleydale Road sell alcoholic beverages in the parking lot during the Ragtime Café 2017 Spring Fest on April 29.
- Agreed to let Turner Food Systems sell alcoholic beverages at the city-owned Finley Center at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex.
- Rezoned property at 3219 Lorna Road from a neighborhood shopping district to a community business district to allow the Blue Pacific Thai restaurant there to become a full sit-down restaurant and apply for a license to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises.