OSAGE BEACH, Mo. -- The Osage Beach Board of Aldermen is moving forward with a $385 million development project that includes senior living, retail and entertainment.
At its meeting Thursday, the board unanimously agreed to adopt the tax increment financing (TIF) plan for the proposed Arrowhead Centre project, which is a 226-acre, eight-phase development on Route KK.
The Arrowhead Development Group's plan asks for $55 million in reimbursements to help pay for project costs, such as infrastructure.
According to the group's attorney, Bill Moore, a study found existing conditions on the property, which was formerly Dogwood Hills Golf Course, to have defective or inadequate street layout, deterioration of site improvements and economic liability/economic under-utilization.
David Bushek, an attorney with Gilmore & Bell who serves as the city's bond council, said the proposed plan captures 50 percent of the increased sales tax, which is the maximum allowed by state statute. He added 50 percent of incremental increase of property tax revenues would also be captured for any residential areas.
The $55 million in reimbursements is at just about 15 percent of the total project costs, which meets the city's TIF requirements.
In Missouri, most TIF districts exist for a period of 17 to 23 years. In the case of the Arrowhead Centre TIF plan, each of the eight phases of the redevelopment project would have a 23-year maximum TIF.
"Each ordinance has to be approved 10 years after the plan is approved. So, the longest duration that any TIF plan could conceivably last is 33 years," Bushek said. "The applicant has a planned schedule of development with the projects built up over time, and each project ordinance is activated close to the point of time to start that 23-year clock to each of those project areas. Their projections based on their total reimbursable project costs and total of all the revenues from all the projects is the plan will last for 28 years."
The Arrowhead Centre development's first phase, which Moore said they would like to start as soon as they are given the green light, is a $25 million state-of-the-art retirement campus from Midwest Health. According to Joe Perkin of Midwest Health, part of this campus includes an 80-unit skilled nursing facility, 90 assisted living units and independent living units. Totally, the first phases of the project would bring 401 senior living units to Osage Beach. Projected opening of this facility is 2016.
Additional aspects of the Arrowhead Centre project include a 50,000-square-foot indoor sports center where year-round tournaments could be held, a large family entertainment center, a flagship hotel boasting 90 rooms, 222 residential apartments, and more than 750,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. Also, developer Gary Mitchell said he has received letters of interest from two notable restaurants - Blue Moose Restaurant and Stroud's Restaurant & Bar - and a local chef interested in rebuilding the former Mitch and Duffs restaurant on the property into a fine dining establishment.
"This development is projected to provide the community with numerous jobs, 2,500 permanent jobs and 2,800 construction jobs," Moore told the board.
Bushek said with adopting the Arrowhead Centre TIF plan, the next step is to review three ordinances scheduled for presentation to the Board of Aldermen at the Aug. 20 meeting.