CRESTWOOD, Mo. — Dierbergs Markets plans to move forward with its redevelopment of the former Crestwood mall site using the existing tax increment financing already in place at the site while canceling its request for a new TIF that would have replaced the original.
The grocery store chain is committed to its plan to anchor a commercial development at the site, Dierbergs Manager of Real Estate Brent Beumer told the Business Journal Tuesday.
“Absolutely we’re on board, there’s just a lot of moving targets,” Beumer said. “We’re very much looking forward to it.”
Dierbergs and McBride Homes have the 46-acre property at 1 Crestwood Plaza under contract from the Chicago-based owner, UrbanStreet Group.
The Crestwood TIF Commission that has been meeting on the plan since February could have voted on the new tax incentives as soon as Wednesday night, when it was scheduled to hold the required public hearing. Instead, Dierbergs sent a letter to the commission Monday withdrawing its request but emphasizing that the company still is “excited and committed to our Proposal.”
Dierbergs had requested $17 million in tax incentives for a $67 million redevelopment on half the 46-acre site, including $13.5 million in TIF and $3.5 million in a Community Improvement District sales tax. The existing TIF on the site, granted to Chicago-based UrbanStreet in 2016 but never used, allows $25 million in total incentives, including $15 million in TIF and $5 million each for a CID and a Transportation Development District.
Instead of pursuing the new TIF, however, Dierbergs officials now believe the redevelopment can be funded by the existing $15 million TIF, which covers the whole site. But so much time has already ticked off the TIF’s 23-year clock that Beumer said Dierbergs won’t be able to use the entire $15 million to fund the project.
“I can tell you it makes our deal tighter because, roughly speaking, right now it’s burned off five years and three months,” Beumer said. “Although the face amount that was approved was larger, given the fact that it hasn’t generated any revenue for the prior six years, we won’t have access to the full $15 million.”
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