T.J. Maxx, Ulta Beauty, and PetSmart are businesses being considered to be located in a proposed retail strip mall in Warsaw. The proposed location for the strip mall is north of Kohl’s. Warsaw City Council and Warsaw Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved a resolution for memorandums of understanding Monday with Terre Haute-based developer Thompson Thrift. The memorandums are to allow the city to move forward by considering financing for the proposed $10 million strip mall development proposal once leases are signed and a bond is issued. The developer is asking to recuperate the tax increment that it creates from the project called Warsaw Commons Phase II. Thompson Thrift previously completed and paid for public improvements at the site including road and water utility improvements. The developer is asking for bonds that will be based on tax increment revenue that will be created by the development. The developer is asking for the city’s tax increment finance district to contribute $1.3 million through a bond. The bond would be issued once the developer notifies the city that it reaches 75 percent of pre-leasing, according to Randy Rompalo, Baker and Daniels. Thompson Thrift was the developer for Kohl’s at the intersection of Ind. 15 and CR 300N, and the developer for Dollar Tree that is being built next to Kohl’s. City council members Joe Thallemer, Jerry Patterson, Diane Quance, Jeff Grose and George Clemens voted in favor of the resolution Monday night. Councilmen Kyle Babcock and Charlie Smith were absent during Monday’s meeting. Warsaw Redevelopment Commission members Richard Snodgrass, Tammy Rockey, Jeff Johnson and Tim Meyer also voted in favor of the resolution for the project during a special meeting Monday afternoon. Carrie Thrift, development associate for Thompson Thrift, presented proposed site plans Monday to the Redevelopment Commission and city council. The proposal is an approximate 87,000-square-foot project, with an estimated 31,780 square feet of retail space left over. Job creation proposals would be T.J. Maxx creating 45 jobs, with an average yearly management wage of $62,000, and PetSmart would create 22 jobs with an average yearly management wage of $60,500. Average sales associate wages are being proposed at $8 an hour for T.J. Maxx, and $8.29 an hour for PetSmart sales associate positions. Thompson Thrift is in current discussion with T.J. Maxx about negotiating a lease, and is in the process of negotiating letters of intent with PetSmart and Ulta Beauty, Thrift said. “Contracts have not been signed at this point, and at this stage we are just in negotiations with the businesses,” Thrift said. “We would not begin this development until we are 75 percent leased, and we still need to lease the businesses.” Thrift said the company hopes to sign leases within the next 90 days. Proposed construction would begin in spring 2012, with opening in fall 2012 once leases are signed and TIF incentive is approved, according to Thrift. In other business, Warsaw City Council approved a resolution for a taxpayer agreement for an economic development project by Winona PVD Coatings LLC. The company, currently at 1180 Polk Drive, plans to increase its manufacturing capacity by an estimated additional 720,000 wheels per year by introducing a second coating line. The company presently operates its business in a 60,000-square-foot building, and is in negotiations to undertake the construction of a 62,000-square-foot expansion of the existing building located on the site. The company has announced plans to lease from the real estate developer an additional 50,000 square feet of building space to accommodate the expansion of the warehouse, and acquisition of the equipment. In other business, the council approved appropriating $200,000 from the cumulative capital development fund into the other services and charges fund to resurface East Center Street from Hickory Street to East Lake Street. The council also approved appropriating $3,000 from repairs and maintenance and supplies to repairs and maintenance for asphalt work at the Pike Lake Firemen’s building.
