The $50 million in tax increment financing bonds Denham Springs issued in 2007 and 2008 for its 75-acre retail development anchored by Bass Pro Shops are on pace to be paid off by 2022 if projected sales from the forthcoming Sam’s Club are factored in, the TIF district’s financial adviser says. “Even with the financial markets’ meltdown in 2008 and the resulting downturn in retail activity nationally, we are currently projecting that the district will be out of this debt two years earlier than the original projections,” says Gordon King, president of Government Consultants of LA. Following a scheduled payment on April 1, the outstanding balance on the TIF bonds will be nearly $47.4 million, King says. Of the more than $2.6 million in bonds redeemed, $2.1 million have been before schedule, he adds.
The initial estimate had the 30-year bonds being paid off in 17 years, says King, based on estimated sales of $80 million a year from Bass Pro and others by 2010. The TIF district is also home to a Hooters and the Amite Crossing strip mall, which has two vacancies remaining among its 17 storefronts. About seven acres of land in the district are still available for development, Denham Springs Mayor Jimmy Durbin says.
The updated estimate has Bass Pro and Sam’s Club generating $100 million in taxable sales alone by 2013. Sam’s Club, set to open in 2012, is expected to generate annual sales of $80 million, about $50 million of which will be taxable when exempt items such as food are considered, King says. Bass Pro is currently generating about $47 million to $48 million in annual sales, he says. —Steve Sanoski
