Tuscaloosa Tables Vote on Tax Incentive to Demolish Homes for New Restaurants & Stores

The Tuscaloosa City Council voted on Tuesday to indefinitely table a vote on granting a tax incentive for a developer to demolish two dozen homes and build a shopping center featuring new-to-market restaurants and retailers.

As the Thread has extensively reported, the incentive would have helped the Mobile-based Delaney Property Group demolish 23 rental homes in the Springbrook neighborhood off McFarland Boulevard near the TownePlace Suites by Marriott and Buffalo Wild Wings, many of which are vacant.

Tuscaloosa city councilman Cassius Lanier said last year that, in place of the residential properties, developers planned to build the new Springbrook Commons, which would be populated by six new-to-market offerings, including Culver's, Dutch Bros, and Golden Corral.

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To incentivize the upfront cost, the Delaney Property Group was seeking tax rebates from the city of Tuscaloosa to be paid over 25 years or until a cap of $5,750,000 is reached.

Like many similar agreements made in Tuscaloosa and Northport in recent years, this money would have come from new tax dollars generated at the shopping center after its completion. Some developers have called them revenue-sharing or "eat-what-you-kill" incentives because they do not see benefits until the tenants they attract are making money.

The Tuscaloosa City Council was expected to vote on the proposed incentives on Tuesday, but instead Lanier asked for the matter to be tabled, or postponed, indefinitely.

The council held a public hearing before the vote to table the issue, and three residents asked them not to grant the tax incentives.

The most vocal among them, Susie Smith, is a Springbrook resident who said this development would see 20 percent of the neighborhood demolished and leave those who remain to deal with the construction process and, ultimately, the traffic to the shopping center.

She was not impressed with the tenants Lanier said may come to the site - Culver's, Golden Corral, and Dutch Bros - and said the location is too far from the interstate to draw travelers.

"It is unlikely that the reasonable, fair-minded residents of Tuscaloosa would support tax incentives to a private commercial development with no compelling reason to warrant support. Nothing special or outstanding or exciting or unique," Smith said. "Nothing truly new for the city, just more humbug offerings in a tiny space inside a neighborhood."

After their comments, the city council voted unanimously to table a vote on the incentives.

For more coverage of the matter, if and when the council revisits it, and for more exclusive news about restaurant and retail development in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.