BY STEVE ZABROSKI, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
HAMMOND | The Redevelopment Commission put into motion a pair of resolutions that set up the legal framework for using future sales tax revenues to prepare the Woodmar Country Club property for a new Cabela's store.
Nebraska-based outdoor outfitter Cabela's plans to build a 175,000-square-foot retail facility on about 50 acres of the 93-acre Woodmar property. Club members approved selling to Cabela's last month for $14 million.
The balance of the land will be sold to developers for motels, restaurants and other retail stores.
To pay for improvements to the property for drainage, sewers, roads and curbs, Hammond hopes to get state approval for sales tax increment financing for the Cabela's development.
With sales tax increment financing, bonds are sold for infrastructure improvements, which are then paid off using state sales tax money generated by the new development, rather than relying on local property taxes.
"This allows us to officially start the process so we can go downstate with this project," said Peter Novak Jr., executive director of planning and development.
Locally, the proposal must be approved by the city's Plan Commission and City Council. Then it can be taken to state officials, who have only once in the past accepted sales tax financing -- for a large Indianapolis retail complex.
"Nothing here relates to any financial commitment on our part," Novak said. "That has yet to be negotiated. Only Cabela's is proposing to invest well over $100 million in the project."
Redevelopment commissioners and council members will travel Friday to the Kansas City area, where they will join state economic development officials on a tour of a new Cabela's store, which is similar to the facility planned for Hammond.
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