BIDCorp topped the Brownfield City Council meeting agenda this morning and those in the meeting learned that there is a local store in Brownfield that has kept another retail store from coming in.
As the meeting started, the council went through all the preliminaries and approved the minutes from the last meeting. They moved the fifth item of business to the end of the session so that they could go more in depth about the annual work plan and report by BIDCorp. They moved to the sixth item and quickly ran through the investment policy and investment officers as requested by state law.
The seventh item of business was the discussion of the new Pocket Park that is located downtown. The park is almost complete and there are a few tables that will be added. The park is expected to open before the event “Keep The Cheer Here”. Every council member is proud and excited about this new addition to the downtown area.
Now on to the main focus of the meeting which was item five on the agenda. The council was to hear and consider the “Annual Work Plan & Report” from BIDCorp. David Partlow the director of BIDCorp began with the revenue and funds information. The revenue proposed budget for 2017/2018 year will total out to $805,666.00. All revenue is raised through five different avenues. There is surplus, sales tax, sale/rent of BIDCorp property, interest earned, and miscellaneous revenue. Over half of the proposed revenue comes from sales tax.
Partlow moved on to show the spending of over that past five and a half years since Partlow has been the director of BIDCorp. Total fund spent on downtown projects has been $340,800.00 and complete total funds spent has been $2,168,872.00. In the past 2016/2017 fiscal year, BIDCorp spent $744,297.00. BIDCorp has collected on land sales at $119,500.00 and pending awards are at $212,500.00. Partlow spoke about what projects BIDCorp is currently working on.
BIDCorp has been helping to get three solar panel farms into Terry County. The investment on all three will be around $610 million. This of course will bring much needed revenue to Brownfield by both employment and taxes. Halliburton is working on an expansion at their new facilities, and will have an approximate investment of $1.75 million and allow more workforce to be added. Partlow went on to discuss recruiting two retail stores and many other projects.
As Partlow finished his proposed projects list, Councilman Leon Pope asked Partlow, “anything on the Walmart building?”. Partlow said, ” Well that’s how Dollar Tree got started.” He went on to talk about how he gave the property information of the building that Walmart use to be in to the executives for Dollar Tree. Partlow told the council, “We have a huge hurdle, which probably means we will never get anything in it. United (Supermarket) has an option to determine who moves into that building, and they (United) told Dollar Tree that they couldn’t.”
Town Talk Radio has obtained an email that discusses this precise issue about United Supermarket not allowing certain retail stores to open up next door.
This email was sent to Steve Cogan of Albertson’s, who now owns United Supermarket, from Jason Anderton of Dollar Tree, Real Estate Manger.
Hi Steve,
I’m not sure if you are the one or someone else within the Albertsons Companies who might be able to help me concerning the exclusive restriction in Brownfield, TX. There used to be a Wal-Mart in the same center as your store in Brownfield, but Wal-Mart closed a few months ago. I worked this area with my director and we came across the vacancy and contacted the Landlord. Unfortunately the Landlord stated that our use was restricted by United Supermarket.
In the past Dollar Tree was able to receive waivers from Alberstons to go into the same center. Do you know if this is still possible? We are looking at 70′ of frontage and not to exceed 10,000 sqft.
Please let me know if it’s possible to receive a waiver from Alberstons for Brownfield, TX.
Steve Cogan of Albertsons passed the email onto Joe Rollins, Director of Real Estate with United (Albertsons). Here is Mr. Rollins response, via email, to Mr. Anderton of Dollar Tree.
Jason,
Steve Cogan forwarded your email to me since Brownfield is in my coverage area and he asked me to respond accordingly to your request.
We are not willing to grant approval for a Dollar Store to go into the Walmart space in Brownfield. If you would like to discuss further please feel to contact me at ***-***-****….Thanks JRR
Partlow told the council that he would like to take a delegation to Albertson’s main office and speak to them about the importance of a retail store like Dollar Tree. Some of the city council members spoke to the confusion of this situation. Basically not understanding why United Supermarket would allow a dollar store next to them, when Walmart had been there and sold some groceries. Partlow went on to say, “They (United) have say so of who goes in that building, that really eliminates about seventy percent of the companies that can move in there.”
Partlow then went on to talk about and show the payments being made from companies who borrowed loans from BIDCorp. All companies show current and up to date loan payments. Meeting was adjourned and all were dismissed.
