STUDEMONT KROGER 380 AGREEMENT PASSES By a 10-5 vote this morning, city council approved the mayor’s plan for a so-called “380” development agreement between the city and Kroger. Under the agreement, the grocery company would receive up to $2.5 million in sales and property tax reimbursements from the city in return for job-creation guarantees connected to a new store and gas station at 1400 Studemont St., just south of I-10. Also in the deal: a land exchange with the city to allow Summer St. to connect to Studemont through the company’s property. [Previously on Swamplot]
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Makes sense; afterall without this corporate welfare, Kroger wouldn’t create any jobs at all. Thye would build the new multi-million dollar store and just let it sit empty and unused, right?
Finally! Now I won’t have to drive 2 whole miles to a grocery store!
Is it time for occupy studemont? This is a terrible decision.
Great point, John. I am going to check to see who voted against it and thank them at the ballot box.
Or, rather, Jon. Pardon the misspelling.
Houston City Council passes the Kroger deal 10-5, Chris Moran (@ChronChris) reports from City Hall via Twitter:
For Kroger deal: Parker, Stardig, Johnson, Adams, Sullivan, Hoang, Pennington, Gonzalez, Costello, Lovell. #hounews
Against Kroger deal: Clutterbuck, Rodriguez, Noriega, Bradford, Jones. #hounews
Kroger: 2.5 mil; Walmart 6 mil; InTown Homes 20 mil; Dynamo Stadium 20 mil; Independent Arts 6 mil (probably the only good use of a 380 agreement); HEB Gulfgate 2 mil. That is over 50 mil in future tax revenues that have been committed in just over a year of passing 380 agreements. Buy now, pay later. Good luck to future suckers who are on City Council who have to close libraries, parks, community centers and pools when tax funds dry up. Thanks to term limits, the people handing out the candy to developers will be long gone by the time the bill comes due.
@7, Old School:
Would you elaborate on the HEB Gulfgate 2 million please?
Retards… yea, I said it.
HEB’s gulfgate 380 is actually an example of a better use of 380 agreements. HEB was planning on closing the location. The City did a 380 with them to keep them open for a set period of time in exchange for giving back some taxes Kind of like doing a TIRZ in reverse.
Why aren’t these 380 agreements being used to irrigate the grocery deserts in Houston?
Old School…are you sure about the Gulfgate deal? That HEB location was one of the top performers in the entire chain when it opened. And it hasn’t been but about what, seven years? Not much has changed in the marketplace since then, and its still a very busy store.
It is the job of every CEO or manager to take ALL advantages for a business, their duty is for the business to make more money (which trickles down to your 401K), hence, for those that DO complain, do not blame the business, blame your elected officials, blame the VAGITARIAN you all had a “hard on” for the last election.
So I just pulled the agreement and read over it. I smell a rat. If the City intends to allow businesses threatening to close access to our coffers, we need public disclosure of their financial circumstances. That should be non-negotiable.
Niche – it’s what the contract says. So it’s probably not true.
http://204.235.237.46/finance/ecodev/380/heb.pdf
Interesting. Someone can correct me on this, but I think this summer when certain city swimming pools were going to close, Sheila Jackson Lee got a couple large businesses to pony up to the tune of around $800K to keep them open. So this “rebate” of future tax revenue to Kroger would pay for 3 summer’s worth of open pools were it not going to their corporate office in Cincinnati.
This is truly kicking the can down the road and will probably result in property tax increases 5 years from now when the city coffers are running low.
I find it hard to believe that HEB was ever planning to close the Gulfgate location. That store is ALWAYS packed. Has been since it opened in ’04 or ’05.
I wish there was a comment section at the ballot box. I would like these jerks to know exactly why I am voting for the other guy.
I wish the city would negotiate a little harder on these 380 deals. Maybe demand a higher standard for the design, better landscape, and so on. $40K for the nearby cemetery is just chump change. What about throwing in some improvements to Stude Park, or the nearby bikeway corridor? The city continues to give away too much for too little in return.
commonsense, you don’t have to be such an asshole to make your point. Try writing as if you were having a conversation in person.
@#14 Niche,
I just read it too. Sounds like blatant blackmail on the part of HEB.
And the city caved. Wonder why?
That store never has down time.
The HEB Gulfgate 380 seems super shady to me. Now that Walmart, Kroger and HEB each have a 380 will this mess end or will the fourth largest City in the US end up getting no tax revenue from any supermarket or discount store?