Facelift continues at Cullman Shopping Center
Published 6:00 am Wednesday, April 1, 2015
- Tito Rueles works on top of the Cullman Shopping Center sign while Geraldo Vaga works below on the ground Monday. Nearen Construction is working on the project with Stanley Graham Carpentry in Eva. The sign will get an entire facelift, and Nearen expects to begin putting up stone on the sign by the end of next week.
Though new additions such as Publix and Dick’s Sporting Goods have garnered most of the attention, the existing tenants at Cullman Shopping Center will also be getting a facelift as part of an ongoing expansion and renovation of the decades-old retail development.
Crews with Nearen Construction are working now to replace the main sign at the development, along with some of the columns and facades across the entire development.
The 50-year-old, U.S. Highway 31 development is currently anchored by Belk and Books-A-Million. Work is under way to fully renovate and restore the existing facilities, then expand the development with new construction on the back side behind the now-demolished Food World location. Once complete, the new work will increase total square footage to more than 325,000 square feet of retail space.
A 22,000 square-foot Ross Dress For Less and 10,000 square-foot Ulta Beauty are the latest announced additions, confirmed by developer Merchants Retail Partners (MRP). They join fellow new additions Publix, Dick’s Sporting Goods and PetSmart. The U.S. Department of Labor Career Center will also return to the center in a renovated 8,000 square-foot outparcel building.
Publix, Dicks Sporting Goods and Ulta Beauty are slated to open in late 2015, with Ross Dress For Less and PetSmart in early 2016. The Career Center will open by early summer 2015.
In addition to representing a major reinvestment in the north Cullman property, the Cullman Shopping Center project also marks the city’s first-ever foray into a retail tax-sharing agreement as part of the recruitment incentive package.
The council agreed to a tax-sharing agreement with Merchants Retail Partners (MRP) in 2013 worth up-to $6 million. Under the deal, businesses in the development will still pay sales tax, though the city will pay back some of those funds for a set period of time. The deal only affects city sales tax (1.75 percent) and does not include education taxes.
Current estimates show those amounts would total approximately $276,000 paid back via a portion of existing sales tax the first three years, with as much as $800,000 produced (and split) in the subsequent seven years from new development. The city also approved $1.8 million in infrastructure upgrades for the project in 2014.
* Tiffeny Owens contributed to this report.
* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 134.
