Developers have received nearly $18.6 million in diversions from the now-defunct cultural retail attraction (CRA) rebates.
To date, the state has diverted around $13.8 million to developers of the Outlets of Mississippi in Pearl, and $4.8 million to builders of the Tanger Outlet in Southaven.
Four other projects, which have been approved for a combined $174.6 million, had not gotten under way at press time.
The rebates were approved by lawmakers in 2013, and repealed the following year after an outcry from the public.
Under its provisions, developers would have reimbursed for up to 30 percent of a project’s total construction costs through the sales tax dollars generated once it’s completed.
All rebates had to be approved by the local governments as well as the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) and the municipality where the developments are located.
The law spelled out several requirements to receive the rebates, but many criticized it for being a measure designed to subsidize the construction of shopping centers.
The Outlets were built by Spectrum Bloomfield LLC. The $80 million project was approved for $24 million in CRA rebates in 2013.
Tanger was developed by DeSoto Mid-South Tourism Project and was approved for $33.9 million in rebates.
Construction on the Outlets was completed in 2013; Tanger was finished in late 2015.
Sales tax revenues in Pearl and Southaven have risen dramatically since the malls opened.
In fiscal year 2013, Pearl received nearly $8.4 million in diversions from the state. A year later, sales tax diversions going to the Rankin County municipality totaled $9.4 million.
Southaven received $12.9 million in diversions in 2014, $13.6 million the following year, and $14.6 million the year after that.
Other developments approved for rebates include second phase of Renaissance at Colony Park, which was approved for $29.6 million in rebates, Gulf Coast Galleria, which was approved for $96 million, and the Pinelands Lifestyle Center, which was approved for $49 million, MDA records show.
The second phase of Renaissance will be located north of the current shopping center on Highland Colony parkway in Ridgeland.
It is being developed by Andrew Mattiace.
The board of aldermen approved architectural plans for the second phase recently.
According to MDA documents, that project is expected to run around $99 million.
The Pinelands, a $163 million development planned for airport property in Flowood, likely will not come to fruition.
The deadline for developers of that project to decide on an option to lease approximately 130 acres from the jackson Municipal Airport Authority passed in February, without action.
The Pinelands was to be developed by Freedom Real Estate of Shreveport.
Under the law, developers have two years from the date of the certificate to complete their projects.
However, administrative rules drawn up by MDA to govern the law state that extensions on the rebates can be given at the discretion of that agency’s executive director. In other words, the CRA subsidies that are currently on the books can continue to linger in perpetuity.
A certificate for the Pinelands was issued on June 20, 2014 and renewed on November 11, 2016; the Renaissance certificate was approved on June 10, 2014 and renewed on November 11, 2016; and the Gulf Coast Galleria certificate was approved on December 19, 2013 and renewed on December 17, 2015.
District 29 Sen. David Blount has authored several measures to do away with the remaining subsidies, but efforts have fallen flat.
This year, Blount authored a bill that would have required projects to be finished by July 1, 2018 to remain eligible for the tax. In 2016, he authored a similar bill. Both efforts died in the Senate Finance Committee.
