By William C. Singleton III
Journal contributor
The new Chapel Lane extension is already drawing business based on the announcement that Field & Stream is building a store in Hoover.
Hoover Executive Director Allen Pate said the $7.5 million, 3/4-mile road which runs under Interstate 459 and ties Chapel Lane with Galleria Boulevard was pivotal in the city landing the new business.
“It makes the area where Field & Stream is building a store very accessible and puts a lot of cars on a daily basis passing in front of it,” Pate said.
The Hoover City Council recently approved sales tax rebates up to $4.5 million for Black Water Resources to build a 50,000-square-foot Field & Stream store on about 10 acres near the Chapel Lane extension and Rooms To Go furniture store at the Patton Creek shopping complex.
The new store will be located near Dick’s Sporting Goods, which owns Field & Stream. Dick’s will move its hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor equipment to Field & Stream, city officials say.
Pate said the two stores won’t be in competition with each other.
“What we didn’t want is for Field & Stream to show up and Dick’s close,” he said. “I’ve been assured that won’t happen. If anything, it will increase Dick’s’ business.”
The sales tax rebate was necessary to lure Field & Stream to Hoover, Pate said.
“From the developer’s point of view, the rent he was able to get for the facility and the cost of buying land and building the facility didn’t make him whole,” he said. “So it took a lot of help from the city to make the developer whole. And once we finish this rebate, we’ve got the business forevermore.”
Pate said he couldn’t estimate how much the new store will generate annually in sales tax revenue. The sales tax agreement is based on Dick’s’ current sales tax, “so if Dick’s were to go away, that means the sales tax rebate probably goes away too,” Pate said.
The sales tax rebate covers a period of 10 years–until 2024. The rebate is based on 50 percent of new sales tax revenue produced by the new store and cannot exceed a total of $4.5 million.
The city is scheduled to hold a public hearing likely next month on the sales tax rebate. Although segments of the public have complained about such sale tax rebates, Pate said the city hasn’t experienced much negative reaction to these type arrangements.
“The city isn’t putting anything at risk,” he said. “We’re not giving up anything we currently have. It’ll be 50 percent of new revenue that we have.”
If everything goes according to plan, the store should open by this time next year, Pate said.
“It’s going to be a great asset to the city and draw a lot of shoppers here,” Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey said. “It’s going to truly be a destination location with people staying overnight to be part of that facility.”
