DANVILLE — The Danville City Council Tuesday night approved more than $1 million in incentives for two new developments of a restaurant and entertainment center.
The redevelopment agreements are with Solutions Group Real Estate for the former Red Lobster property at 3217 N. Vermilion St. and 311 W. Fairchild Danville LLC (owners Tyler and Alexis Zindars) for a family entertainment center in the former Carle building at that address.
As part of the agreement, the city will demolish the Red Lobster building and prepare the site for the new restaurant, potentially Chick-fil-A, for about $80,000, in addition to reimbursing $300,000 in redevelopment costs.
The redevelopment agreement for the former Carle building is for a 47,000-square-feet, multi-level projected $4 million family entertainment venue including trampolines, rock and rope climbing, an arcade, indoor playground, party rooms and a restaurant.
The developers have said the vision is for a family-focused year-round entertainment destination for the Danville community.
Seventy-five jobs are estimated for the development.
Developer incentives from the city: $700,000 in tax-increment-financing district reimbursement, if sales thresholds are met, and the developer also would receive $300,000 over 10 years, according to Danville Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk.
Cronk said the $1 million total incentive package has been set up assuming certain sales thresholds are met each year. There’s a cap of a $30,000 reimbursement each year.
Restaurant sales are projected to generate about $1.5 million a year in revenue. That leaves about $60,000 of revenue in food-and-beverage and sales tax prior to reimbursement. The developer requested 50 percent reimbursement for 10 years, Cronk said.
Construction could start in January and be completed by around November 2026.
The council also approved an amendment for the Fairchild development that Danville Ward 7 Alderman Doug Ahrens suggested. The city is requiring the financial incentive be for a unique restaurant that currently doesn’t exist in the city, not to relocate a restaurant.
Aherns said he had no problem with the TIF money and the hopeful benefit to the structure and supporting the neighborhood.
The council also approved a new tax levy, and by a 9-4 vote, with Ahrens, Ward 4 Alderwoman Tricia Teague and Ward 1 Aldermen Ed Butler and Jaleel Jones voting against it and Ward 3 Alderman Tom Hightower abstaining, approved a new $82 million budget for the next fiscal year starting in May, despite some aldermen concerns about not enough money ($15,000) for homelessness.
A budget amendment approved, also moved by Ahrens, was to not have as big of a reserve for the pool by not putting another $50,000 to $75,000 toward it. The city already is spending from the general fund about $275,000 for the pool to break even, he pointed out.
In other votes, Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. provided the tie-breaking vote to continue the special service area taxing district in the Eastgate business area for storm water.
The council also approved: amending city ordinance establishing an enterprise zone to add territory and modify incentives of the Danville/Vermilion County Enterprise Zone for property at West Newell Road and Bowman Avenue that had been possibly identified for Hyster-Yale’s move; a contract for H&L Landfill leachate system demolition; and a memorandum of understanding extension for solar development on the landfill property.
The council too heard federal funding has reopened to take down 29 houses in the Madison Square neighborhood in the next quarter, but Williams said he’ll be writing a letter in support of restoration of a $1 million a year community schools federal grant Project Success will be losing this month.