LAWTON – The Lawton City Council moved forward May 11 with efforts to bring more businesses – and jobs – to town.
After meeting behind closed doors to discuss economic development issues, the council voted 8-0 in open session to approve a redevelopment agreement with the Lawton Economic Development Authority, the Lawton/Fort Sill Economic Development Corp. and the Texas-based developer TDG-BG Lawton.
In a separate vote, the council decided to activate Increment District No. 4, a tax increment financing district within Lawton Airport Industrial Park. A tax increment financing district, also known as a TIF district, is an economic development tool that uses property tax revenues generated by the district to pay for infrastructure upgrades in that zone.
Under the redevelopment agreement, TDG-BG will purchase approximately eight acres of land in the Lawton Airport Industrial Park from the Lawton/Fort Sill Economic Development Corp. The LEDC will turn the proceeds from the sale over to the city, which will use the money to help the developer cover the cost of making public improvements to the site.
TDG-BG will redevelop the site by building a 70,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center and making public improvements to the site, including extending SW Rex Madeira Road and installing water and sewer lines. Construction, which is expected to begin by December of this year and take about a year, will cost about $8.5 million altogether.
When redevelopment is completed, the developer will lease the site to an unnamed company, which will operate the warehouse and distribution facility.
For confidentiality reasons, city officials cannot publicly identify the company that will run the warehouse and distribution center, said Deputy City Manager Richard Rogalski.
“What we have here is an agreement with a developer, who actually is in the audience,” he said. “That’s not confidential. But the eventual operator – the final operator of this development – is still confidential and is not allowed to be released.”
The city and the Lawton/ Fort Sill Economic Development Corp. will contribute up to $750,000 total to defray the cost of extending SW Rex Madeira Road and other site upgrades, according to the redevelopment agreement. Lawton Economic Development Authority will reimburse the city and the LEDC for helping cover those costs.
The city and the LEDC will provide financial assistance for public improvements only, Rogalski said.
“There’s no money going to any private improvements,” he said.
LEDA will make reimbursement payments annually, using part of the proceeds from real estate and business property taxes collected within the TIF district at Airport Industrial Park. Those payments will begin when the district is up and running and will continue through its 25th year, or until the city and the Lawton/Fort Sill Economic Development Corp. are fully reimbursed.