By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Best Buy will join Kohl’s at the corner of Mount Auburn Avenue and Turner Street, according to city officials.

Councilors approved a tax incentive package for developer George Schott Monday night, part of a deal to bring Kohl’s and two restaurants to the city.

The vote was a perfect opportunity to divulge the latest retail deal under discussion, according to City Manager Pat Finnigan: Best Buy. There’s no signed deal between local developers and the national appliance and electronics dealer yet, she said.

“But so much of it’s a done deal, we can go ahead and announce it,” Finnigan said. “If I had a Magic-8 Ball to tell the future and I turned it over and asked about this, it’d say All signs point to yes.'”

But officials couldn’t say exactly where the retailer would be built. It could go alongside the planned Kohl’s department store, replacing the old Auburn Wal-Mart at the northwest corner of Mount Auburn Avenue and Turner Street. Or it could go on the southeast side, next to a planned Ruby Tuesday and a Longhorn Steakhouse.

Economic Development Director Roland Miller said the company prefers to put its stores on retail pads between 25,000 and 35,000 square feet. Either site would work.

“We do know they prefer to be in standalone buildings,” Miller said. The retailer would share a wall with Kohl’s if it built its Auburn store on the northwest corner.

Miller said the retailer is one several developers are hoping to bring to the area in the next few years. His tax incentive package calls for four more retail investments of about $3 million in the area.

“We’ve spread that out over a number of years, but it could come much faster,” Miller said.

Councilors had no problem passing an incentive package for Schott. They voted 5-1 to pass a $1.75 million tax increment deal.

According to the deal, Schott could get up to $1.75 million in new property tax revenues refunded over the next 15 years. The agreement is designed to help Schott pay for development costs on the land, including tearing down the old Wal-Mart, making road improvements and meeting environmental regulations. The TIF would pay for all but $200,000 of those costs.

The city will still collect taxes based on the current value of the two properties, which was set at $5.43 million on April 1. About $109,000 each year will continue to go into the city’s general fund, he said.

The TIF revenues not returned to Schott go into a fund to pay for road improvements around the mall area. Those include sidewalks between retail properties, new traffic lights and other road improvements.

That could amount to as much as $3 million over the next 15 years, according to the deal.

Councilor Bob Mennealy was the sole nay vote on the deal. He wanted stricter promises from the developer to bring in high paying jobs and more concrete promises to fix transportation problems around the area.

But Mennealy admitted the deal made sense.

“I’ve talked with the developer’s representative and Roland, and I think this is the way we need to go,” Mennealy said.

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