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DANVILLE — Redevelopment agreements for a proposed restaurant and family entertainment center in north Danville got full support from the city council’s public works committee on Tuesday night, moving them to the full council for action next week.
The committee also learned that there will be no funding cuts for the Danville Public Library as originally proposed by Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. a few months ago.
After concerns voiced by library officials and some aldermen, about $200,000 in proposed cuts were eliminated and its tax levy was restored to last year’s amount of $2.1 million. The library initially had been looking at $400,000 to $500,000 in cuts.
City officials were able to avoid the proposed cuts, which Williams had said were necessary because the library was “overstaffed” and had some unnecessary positions compared with others of its size, by making adjustments to the general fund and pension contributions and finding insurance savings.
The committee recommended that the council approve redevelopment agreements with Solutions Group Real Estate for the former Red Lobster property on North Vermilion Street and 311 W. Fairchild Danville LLC (owned by Tyler and Alexis Zindars) for a family entertainment center in the former Carle building at that address.
As part of the agreement, the city will demolish the Red Lobster building and prepare the site for the new restaurant at a cost of about $80,000, in addition to reimbursing $300,000 in redevelopment costs.
Development partner Jason Gigot would not confirm that the restaurant seeking to build on the site is Chick-fil-A. Williams said the city has a letter of intent from the chain regarding the property at 3217 N. Vermilion St., but it still can reconsider. The city also has a list of other restaurants that could be options.
The Northbrook real-estate company identified the property about two years ago, Gigot said.
“We are acquiring the property before the end of the year,” he said, adding they have identified a “very quality long-term tenant” and are excited about the project, and hope to announce more in the near future.
Williams said if this project is successful, the city hopes for more redevelopments from the company.
Gigot said there’s a lot of opportunity in the city, and “it’s just a matter of getting the tenants down here.”
“The best use of that property is to knock it down,” he added of the former Red Lobster building.
Cronk said traffic is always a concern along North Vermilion Street, and the property will retain an entrance and exit on the back side.
The redevelopment agreement for the former 42,000-square-feet Carle building is for a projected $3 million family entertainment venue including trampolines, rock-climbing walls, an arcade, kids’ play areas, party rooms and a restaurant.
Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk said the developers would “white box” the building by removing everything to make it a wide-open space.
The developer has asked for three separate incentive payments, Cronk said, of the $700,000 in tax-increment-financing district reimbursement, if sales thresholds are met, and the developer also would receive $300,000 over 10 years.
Cronk said the $1 million total incentive package has been set up assuming certain sales thresholds are met each year. There’s a cap of a $30,000 reimbursement each year.
Restaurant sales are projected to generate about $1.5 million a year in revenue. That leaves about $60,000 of revenue in food-and-beverage and sales tax prior to reimbursement. The developer requested 50 percent reimbursement for 10 years, Cronk said.
He added that if the sales targets aren’t reached, they won’t reach the cap of $30,000 a year. He said the Midtown TIF District has generated $1.2 million.
Aldermen Mike O’Kane asked about the jobs involved with the project, to which Cronk replied that the developers estimate having 25 construction jobs for one year, 75 permanent jobs and 15-20 indirect jobs via suppliers and vendors. There was no breakdown as to how many are full- or part-time jobs.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news-gazette.com ’
