Politics & Government

Amid Debate, Decision on $1.25 Million Argenta Hills Deal Delayed Again

With two Inver Grove Heights City Councilors absent, the council chose not to act on the motion until July 11.

A proposed, $1.25 million deal between the city and the developers of Argenta Hills will have to wait for two more weeks, after the Inver Grove Heights City Council, down two members, chose to table the decision until July 11.

But the council’s decision to delay action on the proposal didn’t keep members of the public and the local business community from fiercely debating the merits of the deal during a two-hour-long public hearing on Monday night.

For more than a month, council members have been weighing the proposed contract with Inver Grove Heights Investments, LLC., which is responsible for the Argenta Hills commercial and residential project near the intersection of Robert Trail S. and Hwy. 55.

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Construction on the project, which included a Target store, stopped in late 2008, leaving the city with acres of parking lots, lighting and other improvements, but no stores or tenants.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, IGH Investments would complete roughly 150,000 square feet of commercial development and finish site improvements, including paving, landscaping and on-site lighting. In return the city would pay for roughly $1.25 million of the $2.2 million total cost to install those site improvements. Money for the deal would be drawn from the city's Southeast Quadrant Tax Increment Financing district fund, which currently contains roughly $3 million and generates roughly $1.5 million in new funding each year.

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City officials believe Argenta Hills, fully developed, could bring in as much as $500,000 in annual tax revenue for Inver Grove Heights—money that would help the city pay for the $12 million in debt it incurred when it installed sewer infrastructure in portions of the Northwest Area several years ago. Roughly $700,000 of the $1.25 million the city would pay to the developers is contingent upon the opening of a 135,000 square foot Target store in the development. In addition, the deal also contains a guarantee that the Target store would stay open for five years.

The council was originally expected to vote on the proposed contract on June 13, but the public hearing was delayed after city officials discovered that a printed public notice of the hearing contained errors. On Monday, several councilors expressed reservations moving forward on the Argenta Hills deal without the full council, since only three of the five members were able to attend the meeting.

 Several members of the public, including Inver Grove Heights resident Dian Piekarski, urged the council to be cautious in its decision. Council members also heard from the developer and a resident of the Southeast Quadrant—an area between the intersection of Interstate 494 and Hwy. 52 and Upper 55th Street—asking the council to spend the money it would draw from the TIF fund for Argenta Hills for projects within the quadrant itself.

 “Why are we trying to force soft development? If this development can’t stand on it’s own two legs, if it needs subsidies, what are the odds that if the economy doesn’t improve, it’s going to survive?” Piekarski asked.

But Progress Plus consultant Ellen Waters, who spoke at the hearing, said the deal provides minimal risk to the city and could be a “catalyst” for other business investment in the community.

“This can send such a strong message to the wider region that Inver Grove Heights is a good market for retail, is growing despite the economic challenges,” Waters said. “Because it is such a gold standard, Target is a retailer that other retailers want to be near.”

“We’re not running away; there’s nowhere to run. It’s not a game, it’s not a scheme, it’s not a scam,” said Greg Munson, a representative of Inver Grove Heights Investments, LLC., who spoke at the meeting “If you go on any developer's word, it should be ours, we’ve stood behind this thing, we’ve invested and reinvested and reinvested.”


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