Cape council approves financial incentives for Town Plaza redevelopment effort

Concluding a longtime Cape Girardeau shopping area is blighted, the city council approved financial incentives Monday for a local businessman to redevelop the site and create a �family entertainment hub.�

The council authorized creation of the tax-levying Cape Dogwood Community Improvement District and approved property tax abatement for the 10-acre site in the Town Plaza area, southwest of the intersection of Independence Street and Sheridan Drive.

Mayor Harry Rediger called it a �very exciting development� for the community�s midtown area. He said he is looking forward to �great improvements.�

Anand Patel, president of Cape Dogwood Redevelopment Corp., recently purchased the property. Patel requested the financial incentives to move ahead with the development. Improvements are expected to be completed in two phases over the next several years.

The Cape Dogwood redevelopment plan calls for renovating six of the seven existing commercial buildings. The northern most building on the property, bordering Independence Street, would be razed.

As part of the approximately $2 million project, Patel plans to transform The Venue, a former banquet hall, into an �entertainment hub,� according to the development plan submitted to the city.

State law allows for creation of community improvement districts (CIDs) after submission of a petition of more than 50 percent of property owners in the affected area.

In this case, Patel owns all the acreage.

A five-member board of directors for the community improvement district would be appointed by the mayor with the consent of the council. In this case, Patel and his representatives would serve on the board.

Creation of the CID allows for an added 1 percent sales tax to be levied upon shoppers in the taxing district to help pay for the improvements. The district can remain in existence for a maximum of 25 years, city officials said.

In addition to the CID, Patel also will receive a partial abatement of property taxes for the next 10 years. Under state law governing such redevelopment efforts, the developer would pay property taxes based on the assessed value of the land before improvements for that period of time, according to the plans submitted to city hall.

�Effectively, the property owner will pay $36,000 in taxes each year for 10 years and any tax amount over $36,000 will be abated,� city clerk Gayle Conrad said in an agenda report to the council.

Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard said state law allows for partial tax abatement for up to 25 years. But he said Patel has agreed to only a decade of tax abatement, �so I think it is a bonus for us (the city).�

Guard said a study by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission found the commercial area to be blighted.

�I don�t think people realize how bad it is,� Guard said.

According to the Cape Dogwood plan, the area now targeted for redevelopment has �languished.� The plan reports �many of the buildings and parking lots in the redevelopment area are dilapidated or deteriorating.�

The proposed development covers an area extending from Independence Street on the north to Merriwether Street on the south, and east to west from Sheridan Drive to just west of South Plaza Way.

The site houses numerous businesses including Dollar General, The Book Rack, Garden Gate, Fashion Nails and Rhymer�s on the Plaza. The license bureau also is housed in the commercial area.

The commercial area is adjacent to the existing Town Plaza Community Improvement District (CID), which was established more than a decade ago and levies an added 1 percent sales tax on purchases made at its tenant stores.

The owners of the commercial buildings in the Town Plaza CID are not associated with the current redevelopment project.

In other action, the council scrapped plans for issuance of a special-use permit to allow use of a shipping container as part of the d�cor of a new restaurant. The council previously gave initial approval to the permit, but withdrew it Monday for final approval after the request for Sugarfire Smoke House was withdrawn.

City officials said the restaurant no longer plans to incorporate an actual part of a shipping container in the d�cor.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Town Plaza Shopping Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo.