On Thursday, April 22 the TIF Commission held its second meeting. There were not many new details provided, but there were a few items of note.
Since the scope of the proposed TIF only covers the commercial portions of the property, nothing was discussed in regard to the residential homes planned for the site. However, McBride and Dierbergs are named as co-developers of the site so when site plans are ready for approval by the city, they will be presented together.
The “Music City” and “Calverts” properties along Watson are of interest to Dierbergs and they are working with those owners to hopefully include these parcels as part of the development. This appears to still be a work in progress. These are the “non-shaded” properties shown on the diagram, along Watson Road.
The diagram shown above was presented at the meeting. It’s basically the same as the diagram shown last time, with some minor tweaks. It is still considered “Conceptual” and not the final plan.
Engineering crews have been surveying the land and working to determine what still remains below grade. It was stated that the majority of the foundations from the former mall are still in place. In fact, over 1.6 linear miles of concrete foundation remains. There are also over 18 acres of concrete slabs and over 10,000 cubic feet of soil that was added that will need to be dealt with (those former “mounds”). Clearly there is a lot of work needed before new buildings are built.
Dierbergs stated that they plan to provide site plans to the TIF Commission before their next meeting scheduled for May 27. At that meeting, those plans will be reviewed. A Public Hearing is scheduled for June 17, at which time the public can also provide input.