An ordinance approving a revised new development agreement for the Sappington Square retail center was scheduled to be considered this week by the Crestwood Board of Aldermen.
The board was scheduled to meet Tuesday — after the Call went to press.
Aldermen deadlocked 4-4 last month on whether to move forward with the new agreement. Now-former Mayor Roy Robinson broke the tie at the April 12 meeting to direct the city attorney to draft the ordinance.
The revised development agreement was not ready by April 26, the Board of Aldermen’s last meeting of the 2010 legislative session.
The board rejected a proposed agreement last year for the Watson Road property, which Pulaski Bank purchased at public auction in late 2009 after the previous developer defaulted on a loan it obtained from the bank.
Aldermen have since debated at length whether a community improvement district on the property — and a 1-percent sales tax levied on purchases made there — should continue.
The new proposed agreement includes four changes from the one rejected last fall:
All references to eminent domain were removed. Some board members took issue with Pulaski Bank being able to seek eminent domain from the city to obtain cross-access from Sappington Square to Schnucks. Under the new proposal, if the bank can’t obtain cross-access in good faith, the matter will be considered closed unless later addressed by the city.
The amount of reimbursable project costs from CID sales-tax proceeds to the developer was reduced to $1.75 million from the original $2.5 million.
The CID term was reduced to 15 years from the date Crestwood and Pulaski Bank sign the new development agreement. The term initially was 20 years.
A new provision requires Sappington Square to either obtain a 50-percent occupancy rate in sales-tax generating retailers for at least one day or generate $5 million in retail sales over one year. If neither requirement is met within five years of the new agreement’s implementation, the 1-percent sales tax will be repealed within 72 months of the new agreement.
