And….the first area Buc-ee’s!
A new outlet mall – as well as Tarrant County’s first Buc-ee’s – appears to be headed for a new development just south of the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
At its pre-council meeting on Tuesday, the Fort Worth City Council were given details of a proposed economic incentive agreement for the 279-acre outlet mall and travel convenience store development. Along with retail, the development will include office, residential and entertainment components. The owner of the land is Roanoke 35/114 Partners LP, an entity of Fine Line Diversified Development, led by Bill Boecker as president and CEO. Fine Line will be in charge of the whole Champions Circle.
City officials said if the economic incentive agreement is not approved, Tanger will likely build the outlet mall elsewhere.
The economic incentive package calls for Tanger to invest $70 million in the shopping center and Fine Line to invest $60 million in 500,000 square feet of commercial and 100,000 square feet for apartments. Fine Line would be rebated 85 percent of the city’s 1-cent sales tax for 10 years and Tanger would be rebated 85 percent of the city’s sales tax for 15 years. The agreement would be worth an estimated $25 million, according to the presentation made at Tuesday’s Pre-Council meeting. Tanger Outlets and Fine Line would agree to spend 30 percent of hard construction costs with Fort Worth contractors and spend 25 percent of hard construction costs with Fort Worth-certified women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
Additional development could come with Phase 2, which could come online by the end of 2021 and consist of $113 million would of development, split between 500,000 square feet of commercial space; 200,000 square feet of Class A office space; and 300,000 square feet of residential rental space. Tanger Outlets would add an additional 50,000 square feet of retail space to the outlet mall valued at $10 million. The economic incentive package for that phase would not come into play unless all the stipulations of the package for Phase 1 are met, according to city officials.
The first Tarrant County Buc-ee’s travel convenience store is part of the project and would come online with the first phase. Councilmembers Sal Espino and Danny Scarth indicated they – and their families – were big fans of Buc-ee’s, a Texas-based chain that offer travelers a respite from the highway with inexpensive gas, clean restrooms and a cornucopia of consumer items ranging from T-shirts sporting the David Letterman-toothed beaver wearing a ball cap symbol of the chain to a variety of hot sauces, beef jerky and drink options.
The plan will be up for a vote at next Tuesday’s council meeting.
