A suitor for redeveloping the old Kmart store on Highway 45 North may be offering a 2-for-1 deal.
Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins announced Tuesday that a national retailer is interested in locating in the 110,000 square-foot building sitting on 14 acres. At a Wednesday press conference, Mayor Keith Gaskin revealed the retailer plans to transform 90,000 square feet for its own store, while renovating the remaining 20,000 square feet for a second retailer.
Altogether, Gaskin said, the project would be an $8 million capital investment.
“We’re excited about this, and we appreciate the work the LINK put into this,” Gaskin said during the press conference. “… These are always good opportunities for the city. We hope to see more of these coming our way in the near future.”
The city council approved an intent resolution Tuesday to join Lowndes County in offering tax incentives to the company for the project. The county board of supervisors will consider the matter Sept. 30.
As of now, the LINK is dubbing the redevelopment Project Buffalo, but Higgins said Tuesday the retailer has 130 stores nationwide. The LINK plans to announce the retailer’s identity Oct. 1 assuming the deal comes together. The details of the tax incentives will also be announced at that time.
Additional raises rejected
After an executive session Tuesday evening, the council considered, then rejected, additional raises for 21 employees with 10 or more years of service time with the city.
Some of those employees have been with the city 30-plus years, Gaskin noted.
The council raised the minimum hourly wage for 40-hour per week employees to $15 as part of its Fiscal Year 2025 budget. It also added $60,000 to the budget to deal with salary compression issues the new minimum wage created.
Of that, the council already allocated $41,017.60 to raises for more than a dozen employees in various departments. On Tuesday, it looked at using the remaining $19,000 toward wages of the longest-tenured employees but opted against it.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage said the lowest-paid of the 21 employees makes $31,000 annually now, and all of them will receive the council-approved 3% across-the-board raise next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
“There really wasn’t a compression issue,” Turnage said. “I think that was the biggest reason the council voted no because they didn’t feel it was necessary to increase them as a result of (others) moving up to $15 (an hour).”
The money remains in the budget, Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham said, so the council can revisit the raises at any time during the fiscal year.
“Just because it’s in the budget doesn’t mean you have to spend it,” Turnage said.
As it stands, the city projects a surplus of $483,000 for FY 2025.
Dial-A-Bus
The Dial-A-Bus building at 161 Maple St. is coming down, probably by the end of the year.
Council members Tuesday voted to demolish the building because of the expected renovation costs.
The city has received a $15,000 insurance settlement for the building that has suffered damage from two storms since January. Brigham previously told the council the city would receive another $19,000 if it renovated the building.
Though the city originally received a $60,000 estimate to renovate the entire building, Building Official Kenny Wiegel reported Tuesday partial renovations would likely cost nearly $250,000, according to quotes he obtained from contractors.
“That building has been in bad shape for quite some time,” Gaskin said. “… We’ve been looking at this building and talking about this for well over a year. It was not an easy decision to come to, but when you start looking at the numbers, the condition of the building and the safety of the building … I think it was a wise decision.”
Dial-A-Bus is a free public transportation program for seniors through the Lowndes County Council on Aging that Gaskin said has operated in the city-owned Maple Street building for several years. It is not a city program, but he said he would work with the LCCOA board to find another location.
Brigham said if the city’s public works department demolishes the building, the $15,000 insurance settlement will cover the costs.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
