The city’s Industrial Development Board voted unanimously Tuesday evening to provide one million dollars in incentives to an area businessman who intends to build a strip mall in the 6100 block of Ringgold Road.
Suhash Patel told IDB members that he is moving forward on building a 6,500 square-foot building at the corner of Truman Avenue and Ringgold Road, that would be the future home of five businesses, including a Marco’s Pizza, a Highway 55 Burgers, a Great Clips barbershop and two other retail stores. He is in the process of razing a two-story structure on the site that formerly housed a service business, and moving a rental home behind the building that is currently zoned commercial.
Patel, whose business interests include several area Marco’s Pizzas and other retail shops, said he should have an architects rendering of how the new building will appear in coming weeks. He said 40 truck loads of dirt will be brought in for grading the .75-acre site, and that construction should be completed by the middle of the year.
City Manager Scott Miller told the IDB that the $1 million in city incentives would be stretched over a 20-year period. During that period, he said, the businesses located at the site would generate $3.2 million in state increment sales tax, which East Ridge would capture, and more than $800,000 in local sales taxes. In addition, the property would add close to $250,000 to city coffers in the form of property taxes.
If the businesses in the strip mall fail to generate projected revenue for the city, Miller said, the incentives to Patel would be reduced accordingly.
Miller said that a development agreement is being finalized by IDB attorney Mark Mamantov.
The measure must now go before the East Ridge City Council for approval. If the council agrees to the incentive package, the measure would come back before the IDB for the development agreement to be finalized.
IDB member Mac Pendley asked Miller about progress being made on the construction of the building at the corner of Mack Smith and Ringgold Roads. Developer Tracy Tompkins-Tindall with Stonecrest Properties, will receive a total of $600,000 in incentives from the IDB on the project that will be the future home of Firehouse Subs, Dunkin Donuts and a third, unnamed retail business.
Miller said there has been an issue on the construction site with substrate. He said there may be an underground spring near the building site that is presenting problems. The project has been “slowed down,” he said.
Officials said that several other re-development deals are in the works. Miller said he is working with the owner of the 4As Inn on Ringgold Road on a potential project, and with the owner of a “small stereo shop” on the south side of Ringgold Road near Donaldson Road.
Board members were also interested in the progress being made in re-configuring Exit 1 on Interstate 75. Miller said there have been delays at the state level and he expects the beginning of construction to be pushed back to May or June.
Once the newly-configured exit is completed, it will bring north-bound traffic directly off the interstate to a red light on Ringgold Road. Vehicles may then proceed directly onto Camp Jordan Parkway, allowing for ease of access to the Bass Pro Shops and the proposed Jordan Crossing retail development. The new exit is expected to be a springboard to development at Jordan Crossing.
that Retail Strategies, a marketing firm working with the city to help recruit new businesses to the area, is assisting Patel in finding additional tenants.
