Officials with both the city of Cullman and Cullman County revealed the national retail chain previously referred to as the “sporting goods store project” set to develop on the south-side of Cullman was Academy Sports and Outdoors.

The 55,000 square foot retail facility will be constructed in the previous location of Walmart off King Edward Street beside Walgreens.  Vice President of lease administration and development for Drinkard Development Jason Grimmett said he expected construction to be completed before September 2025. Academy predicted the location will create around 80 new jobs once the project is completed.

Grimmett said the project was able to come to fruition thanks to the efforts of Drinkard Development found and CEO Roy Drinkard as well as a first-of-its kind dual tax abatement from the city of Cullman and the Cullman County Commission which was approved in June.

“We were at a complete standstill and we were probably ready to abandon the project, but Judy [Drinkard Development Vice President White] and Roy didn’t want to give up on it. They wanted to talk to our local folks with the city and county to see if there was a way to make this deal work,” Grimmett said.

Mayor Woody Jacobs said while there had been previous joint efforts between the city and the county, they had never involved recruiting retail spaces.

“These retail projects have gotten tighter on their margins and it’s hard for them to make them work. The part of the sales tax that we would be able to share back is sometimes just not enough. Without us working together this project would not have happened,” Jacobs said.

Under the terms of the agreement, the city and county will forego 50 percent of new sales tax revenues generated by the development until $2 million has been generated or 10 years after the store has opened. Whichever of the two occurs first will trigger the termination of the agreement. The city of Cullman’s portion of the sales tax will total just under $1.2 million while the county’s will be $833,000.

The Katy, Texas based retailer began floating the prospect of Cullman as a potential location since at least 2017 when city officials approved a $800,000 sales tax revenue sharing agreement to benefit a slightly larger 62,000 square foot development off Cherokee Avenue. That project was projected to generate around $270,000 in annual sales tax revenue and create 100 jobs before Academy backed out of the agreement in 2018 citing a change in its national development strategy.

Cullman Economic Development Agency Director Dale Greer shared how the partnership is mutually beneficial to all parties.

“Everybody benefits when the city and county work together,” Greer said. “No matter where you spend a dollar here in the county or in the city of Cullman, everybody gets a little piece of it.”