Residents voice support for tax incentives at public meetings

Public hearings for proposed tax incentives to renovate the 40-year-old Sears building in the Town Plaza drew only positive comments Monday night.

The tax maneuvers would collect an estimated $2.5 million for improvements over the next 25 years if approved by the city council. One measure would designate Town Plaza a Community Improvement District, forcing merchants to charge an additional 1 percent in sales tax to fund improvements. Another measure would freeze the property tax paid on the Sears building at its current level for 10 years.

There was little opposition Monday to the plan laid out by Greater Missouri Builders, represented at the meeting by vice president Kent Evans.

Mayor Jay Knudtson continued to speak favorably of the plan.

"If you were ever going to take a situation where you take a building in disrepair and leading to a negative perception of the community and try to turn it around, this would be it," said Knudtson.

"These opportunities don't come around too often," he said.

Mitch Robinson of the Cape Girardeau Area Magnet endorsed the plan, saying he spoke with shop owners in several other communities that had taken the CID route, and all were pleased with its results.

"These are tools that are very successful and are used across the state and in other states across the country," he said.

Robinson cited a study indicating National Asset Recovery Service, the business moving into the vacant building, will have a $15 million annual impact on Cape Girardeau. Robinson said he will ask state officials to do a similar economic impact survey on NARS.

The only area merchant to speak about the proposal was Phil Davis, owner of Tans 'R Us. He called it a "great investment."

Evans was gratified to see a lack of opposition to the proposal from the council and the Town Plaza district.

"If this is a success, then Cape is a success and so is the surrounding area," he said.

Evans suggested the Town Plaza and retail space around it are in a precarious position.

"There's a pocket of vacancy surrounding this center, and it's not as economically strong as it may appear. So I think this is a good solution for everyone," Evans said. He estimated 100,000 square feet of vacant retail space exists in the surrounding area and pointed to the potential for that figure to increase.

GMB has said there is about a $4 million gap between what it expects to collect from NARS and other tenants in the building and the cost of renovating the building. Evans declined to reveal what the cost of the renovation will be or the terms of NARS' lease agreement.

335-6611, extension 245