The Rhea County Commission has given the green light to Food City to begin construction of a new store on Able Drive and Highway 60.
Representatives from Food City and the Southeast Tennessee Development District came before the commission to request a real estate PILOT program (tax break) for construction of the new grocery.
Stephen Spangler, executive Vice President for Real Estate Development for K-VA-T Food Stores, the parent company for Food City, came before the commission along with Jonathan Connell of the development group at their February monthly meeting and made the request for a PILOT with the county and the city of Dayton.
Mr. Spangler told commissioners the new store would be around 54,000 square feet, some 10,000 square feet larger than the current Food City is. It will also include five pump islands for a total of 10 gas dispensers. The new store will also include an expanded meat and seafood department and is to bring in a Starbucks Coffee shop with it.
Food City plans on making an $18 million investment in the new store and will retain some 200 full- and part-time jobs in the proposed development.
Food City projects the store should bring in some $40,000,000 in annual sales, creating some $500,000 in new sales taxes for the local community.
The commission approved for the project to now go to the Rhea County Industrial and Environmental Board and the Dayton Industrial Development Board for further negotiations with Food City.
County Executive Jim Vincent said he, along with Commission Chairman Jim Reed and in conjunction with Dayton Mayor Hurley Marsh and Vice Mayor Steve Randolph and others, had worked on the new PILOT program.
He said, “I’m proud of the new plan that we have in place. A lot of the PILOT programs went on for 20 to 30 years. Under the new plan we go no longer than 10 years and the school portion of the tax, which is about 37 percent, is included as part of the payment. We take the breakout in the Ad Valorem taxes. The PILOT payments will include the school portion on the real property only.”