The developers of a shopping center to be located in Searcy have at least letters of intent from all of the national retailers it has listed as future tenants for Phase 1 of the project.

      During the July Searcy City Council meeting, aldermen requested proof of the tenants who were committed to bringing their business to Searcy as part of a Searcy City Center to be located at the corner of Beebe-Capps Expressway and Janet Drive. Carter Cooper of Capital Growth Buchalter Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., sent a letter to Searcy Mayor David Morris giving confirmation of the tenants.

      "At the request of the Searcy City Council," Morris said, "the developers of the Searcy City Center shopping center have submitted a list of tenants that have committed to locate in the new development. Also, they have submitted to the city a copy of their financing agreement for the proposed development as requested by the City Council at the regular meeting in July."

      According to the letter concerning "the various major tenants proposed for the shopping center:"

      • Hobby Lobby has an executed lease in place for 55,000 square feet of property;

      • T.J. Maxx has a lease negotiated and ready for execution for 20,000 square feet of property;

      • Shoe Carnival has a lease negotiated and ready for execution for 10,000 square feet of property;

      • Petco has a lease negotiated and ready for execution for 12,500 square feet of property;

      • Ulta Beauty has submitted a letter of intent that is being amended with a lease to follow for 10,000 square feet of property.

      Cooper also said the developers are in the process of negotiating a letter of intent with Ross Dress for Less for 18,000 square feet of property and other national retailers are interested in the shopping center.

      "We have several smaller national tenant prospects that have expressed interest for the various parcels that will be included in Phase 1 of the development, Cooper said. "These tenants vary in size from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet and include retail, service and restaurant uses.

      "The smaller tenant prospects for outparcels typically will not commit to a location prior to commencement of construction of the primary center, however, we anticipate the demand for the outparcels will be high after we break ground for the shopping center.

      "We are also negotiating a letter of intent with Dick's Sporting Goods to anchor Phase 2 of the development. We anticipate finalizing this negotiation process within the next few weeks."

      In the July council meeting, Cooper said that Phase 1 of the project would take around 10-12 months to complete and that Phase 2 would begin directly after Phase 1 and possibly even before the first phase is completed.

      "We hope to flow right into Phase 2," Cooper said.

      Robert Jolly of Retail Strategies in Birmingham also provided the city with a calculation of projected retail sale and use tax projections associated with the shopping center project as the aldermen requested.

      "As discussed, my company, Retail Strategies, subscribes to several resources that provides industry data on retail sales broken out by retailer and region," Jolly said in an e-mail to the city. "We have used the lowest numbers from peer communities in our estimates and feel very confident that the projections are conservative."

      Jolly said the projection provided only include the development of the two outparcels (8,000 square feet) in Phase 1 at a sales level of $400 per square foot.

      "The outparcels are where new-to-market restaurants will locate," Jolly said. "We believe that there will be significant demand for these parcels and that the new retailers and restaurants that locate on the outparcels will achieve much more than the $400 psf assumption used in the attached calculation, as most restaurants national averages are above $600 psf in sales."

      The predictions for a full 12 months of business include:

      • Hobby Lobby -- $11 million in total sales;

      • T.J. Maxx -- $5.7 million in total sales;

      • Ulta Beauty -- $4 million in total sales;

      • Shoe Carnival -- $2.2 million in total sales;

      • Petco -- $2.9 million in total sales;

      • Shops - $1.6 million in total sales;

      • Outparcels -- $3.2 million in total sales.

      According to Jolly's projections, the shopping center could possibly be open for business in October 2017. The total sales tax projections for three months of business in 2017 is approximately $114,956.25.

      Jolly approximates the 10-year sales tax projections with a 2 percent annual increase as:

      •2018 -- $459,825 (Searcy sales tax rate 1.50 percent);

      • 2019 -- $469,021.50 (Searcy sales tax rate 1.50 percent);

      • 2020 -- $478,401.93 (Searcy sales tax rate 1.50 percent);

      • 2021 -- $487,969.97 (Searcy sales tax rate 1.50 percent);

      • 2022 -- $124,432.34 (Searcy sales tax rate 0.50 percent due to the end of the eight-year, 1 percent tax).

      The financing letter the city received indicated the interest of Sterling Bank to provide a construction loan for the land acquisition and construction costs for Phase 1 of the retail development. The letter also indicated the bank's desire to provide short-term permanent financing subsequent to the construction loan.

      In the letter, the bank also added that prior to any official financing, the bank would "require suitable documentation that the city of Searcy will be responsible for the installation of the necessary public improvements to serve this property as set forth in the development budget for the shopping center".

      The aldermen already have voted to approve a resolution to move forward with committing to $1.8 million to $1.9 million in public improvements for the shopping center.

      The next step for the city will be to determine how to fund the public improvements.

      The budget for the improvement work by Hart Construction of Searcy includes:

      • Drainage and stormwater including a detention pond -- $261,000;

      • Fire hydrant/fire line modification -- $30,000;

      • Manhole and sanitary sewer modification -- $21,500;

      • Erosion control -- $24,480;

      • Concrete curb and gutter -- $188,850;

      • Asphalt street including base -- $760,500;

      • Signalization at Beebe-Capps -- $176,973;

      • Landscaping -- $4,442;

      • Street lights -- $91,550;

      • General conditions (full-time supervision, permits and fees, traffic control measure, 5 percent general contractor fee, etc.) -- $146,000;

      • Professional engineering -- $94,528;

      • Utility construction inspections -- $20,380.

      No time line was given for when the city will determine how it will fund its portion of the project.