Anderson committee recommends tax package for Oak Ridge Mall

CLINTON—An Anderson County committee has unanimously recommended a $13 million tax financing agreement that could be used to help redevelop the Oak Ridge Mall.

In a 7-0 voice vote, the Anderson County Operations Committee recommended the tax increment financing, or TIF, to the full Anderson County Commission during a Monday evening meeting.

The TIF could last 20 years, and it would allow new property tax revenues generated at the site to be used to help pay for development costs. It’s already been unanimously endorsed by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board.

It’s one in a series of steps required to approve the TIF. It will next be considered at 4 p.m. Thursday by the Anderson County Budget Committee; at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, by the Oak Ridge City Council; and at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, by the Anderson County Commission.

The redevelopment of the mostly empty mall, where ambitious revamping plans have languished for years, has been proposed by Crosland Southeast, a North Carolina company relatively new to this project. Under the tax financing agreement, new property taxes collected in the TIF district could be used to reimburse Crosland Southeast for certain expenses associated with the project.

The redeveloped 59-acre site could open in 2016, create an estimated 950 to 1,000 new jobs, and increase city and county sales tax revenues by about $2.16 million. The enclosed mall would be converted into an open-air, retail-driven, mixed-use property that could include 400,000 square feet of retail space and roughly 60,000 to 100,000 square feet of office space, a hotel of about 100 to 120 rooms, and up to 50 multi-family, “walkable” residential units. It could also include three to four restaurants.

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Note: This story was last updated at 7:19 a.m. Nov. 5.