Co. Springs mall owners want same multi-million dollar deal as Scheels
The owners of The Citadel and Chapel Hills malls say they want the city of Colorado Springs to give their tenants the same multi-million dollar deal the city offered Scheels to bring a location to the north side.
That’s according to a letter to a councilman obtained by KRDO Thursday.
Scheels, a North Dakota-based sports retailer, was given a 25-year tax break worth about $16 million to bring a location to Colorado Springs. Proponents said the store’s reputation and its average employee salary of $46,000 were factors in considering that deal. The city expects to bring in $55 million in sales tax revenue from the store in the same time period.
But a lawyer representing Namdar Realty Group says the malls’ owners weren’t informed of the plans to bring a Scheels to Colorado Springs “until after the incentives were already offered,” according to a statement that was sent to councilmember Bill Murray on March 12.
“As a consequence of the city’s failure to inform the malls timely, the malls did not have enough time to respond with concerns about the addition of Scheels in the city,” the letter says.
Namdar claims that tenants of the malls may lose “business and jobs” due to Scheels’ opening. The Scheels location is set to be built on Interquest Parkway east of Interstate 25, which is close to the Chapel Hills Mall.
Colorado Spring Economic Developer Bob Cope, responded Friday morning saying, “the incentives for retail projects are made only after carefully analyzing the potential positive and negative impacts as well as a rigorous economic and fiscal impact analysis.”
Cope said the Credit PIF Ordinance and Credit PIF Agreement were presented in public meetings that were properly noticed. He continued to say it would be impractical to individually notify every retail business in the city.
The City estimates that Scheels will have a $1.5 billion economic impact over 25 years ($60 million annually).
Scheels plans to invest $84 million in the store, hire 400 workers and have annual sales of $60 million. Councilmember Richard Skorman said nearly half of the retailer’s customers will come from outside the Colorado Springs area.
Some council members said the city gave up too much in the deal and gave Scheels an unfair competitive advantage over existing retailers.
Councilman David Geislinger said he hopes to see a better process for negotiating tax incentives with prospective incoming businesses in the future.
