The price tag for the City of Lawton’s contribution to development of the Fisher59 beer distribution warehouse has increased by 60%.
An agreement approved by the City Council, the Lawton Economic Development Authority, the Lawton Fort Sill Economic Development Corporation, and Fisher59 Properties cleared the way for construction of another distribution center in Lawton’s Airport Industrial Park.
Fisher59 will spend $16 million to build a 100,000 square-foot beer distribution warehouse on a 15.7-acre parcel north of the 72,000 square-foot Pepsi distribution center in the industrial park. Fisher59 will pay the LEDC $260,000 for its site, and will relocate a sewer line, extend a 12-inch water line, and extend Gilbert Gibson Road to the north side of the project.
Fisher59 will be reimbursed for the offsite improvements by the City of Lawton from its 2019 Capital Improvements Program funds. The agreement initially limited the city’s exposure to $1.6 million for the offsite improvements.
However, the agreement also provided that prior to starting construction of the public improvements, the redeveloper could submit an engineer’s detailed cost estimate of those projects.
The council approved an adjusted cap of $2.9 million on the public improvements.
The redeveloper recently submitted a cost estimate for those improvements – revised to reflect the spike in construction costs – of $2,559,824, prepared by Alston Construction. Other projected expenses include $132,000 for engineering, project management, and third-party testing costs, plus $121,132 in construction interest.
“The submitted construction plans have been reviewed by staff and significant changes have been agreed to by the engineer,” Deputy City Manager Dewayne Burk reported.
Richard Rogalski, executive director of the Lawton Economic Development Authority, told Southwest Ledger that the LEDC also will contribute its net proceeds from the land sale toward the cost of those public improvements.
The Fisher59 project is located within a tax increment finance district, and over a period of several years a portion of those taxes will be used to repay the City of Lawton and the LEDC for their financial outlays on the Fisher59 project.
The new Fisher59 facility will consolidate operations that are in two locations in Lawton.
The company will retain 60 employees currently on its payroll and will add 30 more over the next 10 years, at an average “present-day salary” of $48,000, city officials reported.