The Greensboro City Council has two public hearings for economic incentive grants on the agenda for the Tuesday, June 16 virtual meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The virtual meeting will be broadcast live on the Greensboro Television Network (GTN).
One of the economic incentive grants being considered is for an expansion of the United Parcel Service facility at 3100 Flagstone Dr. It’s a fairly standard economic development grant where UPS can receive up to $341,000 in property tax reimbursement if the conditions, including hiring 141 new employees and a capital investment of $54 million, are met.
The other economic development grant is to offer financial assistance to bring a Piggly Wiggly grocery store to Freeman Mill Square shopping center at the corner of Freeman Mill Road and Florida Street. This is listed as “A 60-Month $500,000 economic development loan and a $250,000 urban development investment grant for S & S Capital LLC to revitalize a long-term vacant big box shell.”
The resolution notes that the loan meets the requirements of the program “with the exception of the requirement that the City loan will be secured by no less than a second lien against the property securing the loan.”
The resolution doesn’t mention that according to the “Urban Reinvestment Investment Guidelines” of the City of Greensboro to qualify for “Long-Term Vacant Big Box Revitalization Loan Program” the “Minimum size of the big box is 25,000 square feet.” The vacant store that is to be refurbished for the Piggly Wiggly grocery store is 14,000 square feet.
City staff could offer no explanation as to why this condition was not met, except to say that the City Council was aware that the store did not meet the minimum size requirements for the big box revitalization loan program.
S & S Capital LLC first announced that the shopping center would be anchored by a Piggly Wiggly in January of 2019 and projected that the store would be open for business in November 2019.
This is corporate welfare. Sounds good, but it an additional cost of the taxpayer. Furthermore, when the Govt subsidizes a company (thru political connects or not), it does so at the expense of other businesses that do not receive comparable compensation just to be here. Same suggestions; reduce the tax rate, reduce the cost of a business license. These make the cost of business, and the cost of living here lower. THAT will help the local economy more than anything else. Stop this eminent domain confiscation. We have no representation.
Cancel the Coop