Monday, December 17, 2007

Shopping, dining and more

Once Phase IV of TigerTown is complete, the open-air shopping center will stretch a million square feet and is expected to generate approximately $7.7 million in revenue for Opelika, according to city officials.

July 12, 2007

Once Phase IV of TigerTown is complete, the open-air shopping center will stretch a million square feet and is expected to generate approximately $7.7 million in revenue for Opelika, according to city officials.

Members of the Opelika City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and TigerTown Ltd. on Tuesday during its regular meeting. In 2002, the developer committed to develop 500,000 square feet of center space; by year’s end, TigerTown will consist of approximately 700,000-square-feet of developed space.

Now in Phase IV, “The developer commits to develop, or cause to be developed, at least 100,000-square-feet of additional retail space, plus at least one hotel, and restaurants and other outparcel space containing at least 10,000-square-feet by November 17, 2008,” the memorandum says.

Phil Martin, spokesperson for TigerTown developer Newton Oldacre McDonald, said that Phase IV of TigerTown would consist of Dick’s Sporting Goods; a signature department store; a retailer of bedrooms, linens and baths; and 15 to 17 outparcels including two major hotels, Fairfield Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. A number of restaurants, small retail, financial services and other establishments would round out TigerTown, and Phase IV will create 600 new jobs, Martin said.

Economic Development Director Al Cook said that before TigerTown was built in Opelika, sales tax revenue to the city wasn’t anywhere close to what it is now - or what it will be.

“Certainly TigerTown has been, and will continue to be, a catalyst for increasing economic activity around Exit 58,” Cook said. “Upon completion, the sales tax revenue to the city will be $7.7 million annually; not long ago, the total tax revenue to the city was around $7 million, and that was like 2001 to 2002. With 2008 to 2009, less than 10 years later, TigerTown will have effectively doubled the tax revenue for the City of Opelika.”

The city will share up to $6 million in sales tax revenue with TigerTown Ltd, according to the memorandum.

Dick’s Sporting Goods is expected to break ground in TigerTown sometime before Christmas. The 45,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Interstate 85 and U.S. 280 will house all manner of sporting goods across 11 specialized sporting departments. Shane’s Rib Shack will be built near TigerTown’s freestanding Starbucks, and a Zaxby’s restaurant will become next-door neighbors with Logan’s Roadhouse.

And, today at 9 a.m., officials from the Opelika Chamber of Commerce will cut a ceremonial ribbon in front of Kroger in TigerTown to mark the opening of the 83,000-square-foot grocery store. Kroger Fuel Center opened there July 5.

“TigerTown has certainly been a great example of cooperation between a community that needed this type of retail magnet and a developer who wanted to build a first-class retail center,” Martin said.