MOULTRIE — The Moultrie-Colquitt County Development Authority and a private developer are close to a deal that promises to bring three major national retailers to the county, but the project will need buy-in from the city and county governments to come to fruition.
The City of Moultrie voted Tuesday to approve a request for $985,000, but Colquitt County commissioners — who are being asked for three times that much — were hesitant when details of the project were explained to them Tuesday evening.
Skylar Long of JBS Capital and Development Authority Chairman Ross Dekle described the $20 million development to both groups at their separate monthly meetings.
Long said the proposed shopping center at Rowland Drive and Veterans Parkway, near Lowe’s, would include 88,000 square feet worth of retail. National retailers Hobby Lobby, Marshall’s and Five Below are committed to the project, he said.
Long said it would bring in 100 full-time jobs and 33 additional seasonal jobs. Hobby Lobby, he said, would provide a majority of the jobs and he said their minimum wage is $18.50 an hour.
Dekle presented the proposal for a public-private partnership.
“The reason we’re here is the need to facilitate a gap for funding in this project, of which the Development Authority has already committed up to $1.8 million of its funds to assisting with,” Dekle said.
In all, the project needs $5.6 million to come together, Dekle said. That’s the Development Authority’s $1.8 million, a $985,000 buy-in from the city and a $2.8 million buy-in from the county. Initially the Colquitt County Board of Education was approached too because the division of local option sales taxes means it will significantly benefit from sales at the proposed center, Dekle said, but the Development Authority was told the school board can’t participate in such a project for legal reasons.
Long said that the development would generate enough money to pay for itself in the first few years.
“But we have to partner with a municipality to offset that development cost,” he said.
The governments can expect to make up their investment — with interest — from property and sales taxes, development officials said.
“This is a project that will not be abated,” Dekle said. “It will generate property taxes and sales tax from day one and as soon as the stores associated with this development are open,” Dekle said.
JBS Capital has developed properties throughout the Southeast, Long told commissioners. Essentially, their clients tell them what towns they’d like to put stores in, and JBS Capital does the legwork and research to make it happen.
“We are not speculative developers. … We have long-term relationships with our tenants,” he said.
Long said the company recently completed a similar project in Douglas that is doing well. He said that shopping center helped to bring in new retail development to Douglas and both local and national tenants had seen success.
“You’re going to be bringing these [shoppers] from going to Tifton or going to Thomasville. They’re going to be coming here shopping instead,” he said.
When questioned about a timeline, Dekle said they had some time, but the project can’t start until a decision is made.
“We’ve got funding to get them going. However, they can’t pull the trigger until they’ve got answers from the remainder of the funding,” he said.
Long said the tenants would like to be open by September of next year.
In discussions after the presentation, Commissioner Paul Nagy expressed concerns with the wide difference in the amounts of money that are being asked for.
“The City’s gonna get a 7.9% return. We’re gonna get a 9.2%,” Nagy said. “Yet, it’s unbalanced because they want $2.8 million out of us and $900,000 something out of the City.”
The other commissioners seemed to agree and County Administrator Chas Cannon said that he would get with the Development Authority the next day to discuss the amount that the County was being asked to contribute. Results of that discussion weren’t available Wednesday afternoon.
The Development Authority is best known for trying to bring industrial businesses to Colquitt County, including Sanderson Farms, National Beef, Forquimica and others. It is not known for participating in retail development, but Dekle addressed any concerns commissioners might have had on that front.
“We’re tasked with two primary purposes: Growing the tax base of Moultrie and Colquitt County and creating jobs,” he said, and he indicated the proposed shopping center would do both.
After the presentation to the county commission, Dekle and Long went to the Moultrie City Council, which approved their proposal, according to an email from City Manager Pete Dillard.
“Our council is very forward looking and understands the importance of industrial and commercial development. The addition of 100 full time jobs and 33 seasonal jobs is a large gain for our citizens. A twenty-million dollar investment is good for our community,” said Dillard.